I;. 



I 



V v^^ ^0m>-: 






S * * A ^ 






^': '"^-^ v^' 
















.V^' ^r> o \ 



\ '^yW^ / 



■^.. 






'^^ °. VA^.* 



"»v" .xO^' ._ <-^ "/.. ^\,o ..>./'V"°^"'' 



.^y::'>>^ 






.:#.^' ;.-;>;°^ 



.0 



^^^ ■''^. 






^'% ^^y^^/_^ 






k 



to 



-A 

TREATISE 

IXPOW 

THEOLOGICAL SUBJECTS, 

CONTAINING 
AN EXPOSITION AND DEFENCE OF THE GREAT DOCTRINES 

OF 

NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION; 

TOGETHER WITH 

SEVERAL PRAYERS, 

WRITTEN 

IN CONFORMITY WITH THE SPIRIT OF THIS WORK. 



-^ 

BY WILLIAM S. ANDREWS. 



*• Search the Scriptures," &c. — ^John v. 39. 



CAMBRIDGE : 
PUBLISHED BY HILLIARD AND BROWN 

1829. 






DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit. 

District Clerk's Office. 

Be it remembered, That on the thirtieth day of Septem- 
ber, A. D. 1829, in the fifty-fourth year of the Independence 
of the United States of America, Hilliard and Brown of the said 
district have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right 
whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit : 

" A Treatise upon Theological Subjects, containing an Exposi- 
tion and Defence of the Great Doctrines of Revealed Religion ; 
together with several Prayers, written in conformity with the 
Spirit of this Work. By William S. Andrews. ' Search the Scrip- 
tures,' &c.— John v. 39." 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, 
entitled, " An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing 
the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprie- 
tors of such copies during the times therein mentioned ; " and also 
an act, entitled " An act supplementary to an act, entitled ' An act 
for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, 
charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies 
during the times therein mentioned ; * and extending the benefits 
thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical 
and other prints." 

JNO. W. DAVIS, 
Clerk of the District of Massachusetts, 



PREFACE. 



The matter which this book contains, was prepared 
in the manner, and under the circumstances, which 
are related in the following account. The writer, in 
the earlier years of his life, had taken a deep interest 
in many of the topics here discussed, and made them 
the subjects of long, frequent, and anxious investiga- 
tion. This investigation, however, instead of result- 
ing at that time in any conclusions satisfactory to him- 
self, was only the source of increasing perplexity 
and difficulty, and if it led to any thing like what may 
be called opinions at all, they were precisely opposite 
to those which are presented in this work, and as it is 
believed sustained, with arguments in themselves un- 
answerable. These remarks are intended to apply 
particularly to the doctrines of the Foreknowledge of 
God, and a Superintending Providence, as consistent 
with human liberty ; and to the state of things in this 
world, as a state of discipline and preparation for the 
next ; for as it respects most of the other topics, I can 
hardly say, I had then any definite notions at all. After 
remaining a long time however, in a state of painful 
doubt and suspense, a course of reasoning occurred to 
me upon these subjects, which seemed like light all at 
once breaking in upon my mind, it was so satisfactory 
and cheering in itself; and I believe I felt at those 



IV 

times a sensation something akin to what is described 
as being realised by that philosopher, who exclaimed 
in rapture, Eureka^ when he had made an important 
discovery after much painful and protracted labor. 
This new train of thought was not, however, any thing 
that was suggested involuntarily to my mind, but 
the result of close reflection upon the subjects, in 
pondering upon the arguments in relation to them as 
suggested by books, conversation, &:/C., and following 
them out to their necessary conclusions. How it was 
that the same train of reasoning did not occur to me 
before, and did occur to me then, I am totally unable 
to explain, except by referring it to the Deity himself, 
as affording to my mind a clue to it, in suggestions in 
some way communicated by himself, while I was in 
the exercise of my reasoning powers for this purpose. 
All I know is, the fact of my then having clearer and 
more satisfactory views upon the subject ; and also that 
it was not in my power to distinguish these views from 
the ordinary deductions of my reason. 

A part of these articles have already appeared in the 
Christian Register at different times ; a part were in 
the form of exercises read before one of the classes at 
the Theological School in this place ; and a part have 
been prepared by me at other times, as particular top- 
ics of inquiry have occurred to me. Some of these 
have been suggested by conversations accidental in 
themselves, some by being made the subjects of exer- 
cises in the School here, and some by topics originally 
occurring to my own mind. Some of them were writ- 
ten with a view only to newspaper publication in the 
time of them, some merely as class exercises, — and it 



did not occnr to me until I had accumulated a large 
number of distinct manuscripts, that it might be expe- 
dient to publish them in a volume. 

Such is the history of the manner and the circumstan- 
ces under which the articles in this book were written, 
and are now presented to the public in this form. As 
the subjects of them are of the highest importance to 
mankind, as relating both to their present and future 
welfare, they deserve in themselves a serious and atten- 
tive consideration. If they shall be the means of af- 
fording the same degree of satisfaction to other minds 
that they have to my own, and of removing the doubts 
and perplexities which have beset these branches of 
Theology, the object of this work will be answered ; 
trusting, that when the reason is enlightened, and the 
path of duty made clear, the practical consequences 
will follow with as much certainty, as the fruit grows 
and comes to maturity upon a tree which has been 
properly reared and cultivated by the hand of man, 
when aided by the invisible process which is pursued 
by the Deity himself, to produce this effect. All that 
is solicited in behalf of this book is a calm and candid 
perusal, and a serious investigation of the arguments 
urged in support of the views maintained in it. The 
whole depends upon a course of reasoning, which, ac- 
cording to my belief, is sound and conclusive. 

It has been my object in this work to bring into as 
small a compass as possible, my views in relation to the 
several subjects of it, in order that no one should be dis- 
inclined to read it, from its voluminous appearance. I 
have therefore presented in a very condensed form the 
propositions to be maintained, the reasoning to support. 



VI 



and the illustrations to exemplify them ; making an 
application of the doctrines to but few of the great va- 
riety of cases to which they relate, and not going into 
particulars, more than was absolutely necessary to make 
myself intelligible. Any other course would have been 
inconsistent with the particular design of this volume, 
and probably in a great measure defeated it. It is in- 
tended to be merely a compendium of the subjects dis- 
cussed, leaving it to myself or others hereafter to fol- 
low out the truths established into all the speculative 
or practical consequences, to which they may lead ; and 
to make such other illustrations of their application, as 
shall be considered most suitable to demonstrate and 
enforce them. 



CONTENTS. 



The Being, Unity, and Attributes of God. ... 1 

A future Life discoverable by Reason. — Part I. - - - 14 

Part II. - - 25 
Foreknowledge, Existence of Evil, and a superintending Pro- 
vidence. - - -38 

Foreknowledge of God and a superintending Providence, — 

Continued. 47 

The Doctrine of Motives and moral Liberty. - - - 50 

Conscience and innate Principles. ----- 55 

Conscience, Proof of Moral Liberty. - - - - 62 

Doctrine of Foreordination. - - - - - - 66 

Prophecy in general,^and the Book of Revelations, - - 69 
Second Causes. -------.75 

Superintending Providence as it respects Material Phenomena 

— and Accident or Chance, (so called.) - - - 80 

Phrenology and Physiognomy. ------ 86 

Plan of the Divine Government. ----- 90 

Light of Nature and Revelation. - - - . . 112 

Credibility of Revelation and of Miracles. - - - 115 

The Nature of the Evidence arising from Christian Miracles. 123 

Old Testament generally, Apocrypha, and Pentateuch. - 128 

Longevity of the Patriarchs and Confusion of Tongues. 135 

Rejection of Miracles by the Jews. - - - . 143 
Internal Evidence of the Authenticity of the New Testament. 150 

Obedience and Faith. 151 

Original Sin. -----... 157 

Regeneration and Conversion. ------ 160 

Doctrine of the Atonement. - - - . . iqq 



VUl 



The Doctrine of the Tiinity. 180 

Limited Reception of Christianity. - - - - 185 

Habit. 194 

Matthew xix. 24. - - ^ 199 

Grace and Works. 202 

Prayer. . - - 205 

The Church as contradistinguished fiom the Congregation. 209 

The Rite of Baptism. 213 

Exchanges. - -- - - - - - - 216 

The Sabbath. 221 

The Prophecy of the Second Coming of Christ. - - 227 

Acts i. 11. 232 

James ii. 10. 239 

Matthew v. 18. - - 242 

Matthew xxii. 3. 244 

Matthew vii. 3. 247 

Matthew xxiii. 5. -------- 251 

Humility. 259 

Prayers.—No. 1. - - - 269 

No. 2. 272 

No. 3. 275 

No. 4. 278 

No. 5. - 281 

No. 6. - - - - - - - 284 

No. 7. - - -. 287 

No. 8. -----.. 290 



TREATISE. 



THE BEING, UNITY, AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. ; '^ 

By the Unity of God, I understand unity of will, 
consciousness, purposes, and attributes ; and that the 
same thing is to be understood when this term is 
apphed to him, as when it is appKed to man, viz. a 
singleness in every thing which goes to make up an 
individual being or personality. 

I apprehend there is no more difficult)^ in conceiv- 
ing of unity when applied to the Deity, than when 
applied to man; that it is, in other words, perfectly 
comprehensible. With respect to the Divine attri- 
butesj though we are able to form some vague and 
imperfect notions of the nature of these attributes, 
we can form no idea at all of their extent and oper^ 
ation ; these not being within the reach of any of the 
faculties that are given us. As in the production and 
growth of an animal, the human soul, the revolution 
of a world, or the changing of water into ice, though 
w^e are able to discern in them the marks of power 
and wisdom, yet the manner and degree in which 
these are exerted, are altogether a mystery to us. 
1 



To determine whether the arguments in favor of 
the being of a God are equally conclusive to estab- 
lish his tmity, it will be necessary to examine what 
the former are. And first, I conceive that what is 
called the a priori argument, which is intended to 
prove the necessity of the Divine existence prior to 
the creation of any thing in the universe, and with- 
out any reference at all to this creation, is in itself 
utterly absurd. For this necessity, in order to ope- 
rate upon the existence of the Deity, must take place 
prior to the existence itself, which would involve in 
it two absurdities ; one, that a necessity should arise 
for an event, when by the supposition there was no- 
thing in being out of which it should arise, i. e. when 
there was nothing in the universe to create the ne- 
cessity ; and the other, that this necessity, even if it 
could be supposed, would in itself imply that there 
was a time when the Deity himself was not in exist- 
ence, since for the necessity to be a causa causans, 
it must itself exist anterior in time to the event upon 
which it operates. Such a solution then would irre- 
sistibly lead to the conclusion, that the Deity was not 
in fact either self-existent 01 eternal ; not self-existent, 
since he is caused by this supposed necessity, be it what 
it may; noi eternal, because a being caused, cannot 
exist until after the thing that causes it. I know it 
is said that this necessity is not in itself any thing 
actually existing foreign to the Deity himself, but 
only an idea in our minds, which we are obliged to 



3 

associate with this existence to account for it. If 
this be the explanation, I say that it is no necessity at 
all, and does not account for this existence. 

Putting then this a priori argument aside as en- 
^tirely unsupported, I come now to the other argu- 
ment, w^hich is called the a posteriori argument, the 
reasoning from effects back to causes ; and this I con- 
ceive not only as entirely satisfactory, but coming 
almost as near a demontration of the self-existence 
and eternity of the Deity as a demonstration of a 
proposition in Euchd ; as near a demonstration as it 
is possible for moral reasoning to be. What we now 
see in existence in the universe, be they animals, or 
vegetables, or inanimate matter, must either have been 
created in the first instance by a great First Cause 
anterior in time to themselves, and propagated in the 
successive series, which we see to be the course in 
which they follow each other, by his agency ; or else 
the series must have existed from all eternity, and 
each link have been of itself capable of producing 
its succeeding one, in the manner in which we see it 
is produced, without the agency of any cause /oreig-n 
to itself whatever. For it will not do to say, that 
the eternity of this series, and the manner in which 
it is continued, may be caused by a supposed neces- 
sity operating upon it in the first instance, and from 
that time down to the present in all the successive 
links,since, as I showed before, a nece55iVy for the pro- 
duction of any thing must not only exist prior to the 



thing itself produced, but arise out of something dis- 
tinct from it, which by the supposition can exist no 
more in this case, than in the case of the Deity as 
before considered, there being, by the supposition, 
nothing to produce the necessity. We come there- 
fore to the only supposition which remains, (setting 
aside the being of the Deity himself,) and this is, that 
the present series of things, be they what they may, 
has existed from all eternity, and that each link has 
been the efficient cause of the succeeding one, — in an- 
imals, that the parent has been the efficient cause of the 
progeny ; in vegetables, that one plant is the efficient 
cause of the succeeding one ; and in the material 
wofld, that all those circumstances, which are consid- 
ered the secondary causes of the chapges that are 
produced, or the events which follow them, are in 
themselves the efficient causes of them. Now by an 
efficient cause, or a cause actually producing an effect, 
I understand something, let it be of w^hat nature it 
will, that first intends to produce the effect desired, 
which intention supposes both design and will ; then, 
secondly, that has power to produce the effect, by 
which I mean, that it has means within its control, let 
them be what they may, of accomphshing with ab- 
solute certainty, the object intended, viz. bringing to 
pass the effect desired, without the possibility of failing 
to do it ; and, thirdly, that understands perfectly the 
mode in which the effect is to be produced, that is, 
the nature of the process, in all its parts and relations, 



and combinations and consequences. To exemplify 
these several requisites to constitute an efficient cause 
in the production of a plants the plant producing 
another must intend to do so, and so have a will and 
be capable of design^ — must have power to produce 
it, that is, must have all the means necessary for this 
purpose, without relying upon any external aid of 
any kind, and must perfectly understand the mode 
or process in all its parts, by which it is to be produ- 
ced. Now it is perfectly obvious that in all these 
requisites of an efficient cause, the plant is wanting. 
It neither intends, has power to produce, nor under- 
stands any thing relating to the process of germination, 
or growth of a succeeding plant. This is produced by 
a train of what are called secondary causes, which are 
in themselves inadequate to the production of the 
plant, wanting all the requisites named, but only in 
fact, materials and modes, by which the plant is form- 
ed and vegetates. The same illustration might be 
given of animals and of all effects produced in the 
material world, coming either within what are called 
the sciences of chemistry, natural philosophy in all 
its branches, and astronomy ; and indeed in every 
science where any changes or new combinations are 
effected, in which matter is concerned. In all these 
cases, in the results produced, the causes assigned 
are clearly inadequate to the effects which follow, 
and are in truth nothing more than mere modes of 
operation. 

1^ 



If these remarks are just when applied to the ma- 
terial world and to brute animals, that there are no 
efficient causes discernible, how much more striking 
the fact is, when man himself is considered. So far 
from a man intending ^ having power, and knowing how 
to produce the human soul, — the nature of it, its con- 
nexion with material organization, and dependence 
upon it in this world, are entirely unknown to him, 
not being seen to have any properties in common 
with matter or which matter appears in itself ca- 
pable of receiving. How then can a man be con- 
sidered the efficient cause of a being like himself, 
about whose nature he is so entirely ignorant ? 

I have shown now that the assigned causes in the 
material, animal, and rational world are not in fact 
the efficient causes of the changes and events pro- 
duced in the first, and of the continuance of the 
species in the two last, and also that there can be no 
such thing as necessity operating to produce these 
effects, since there can be no such thing as necessity 
without something to produce it, which by the sup- 
position there is not; I ask then how can we account 
for the successive generations of the animal and veg- 
etable kingdoms, and of the changes in the material 
world ; and not only for these, but also for the won- 
derful regularity and uniformity which appear in 
them; that the same species always continue to be 
so clearly marked and kept so entirely distinct from 
all others ; and that the same combination of circum- 



stances in material things always produces the same 
result ? Why is not a horse sometimes the progeny 
of a cow, or a dog of a man ; and why is it that the 
head is always on the shoulders, and the nose on the 
face ? Why are these always where they should be, 
to answer the end which they are found to answer, 
and in no other place ? Why is water always convert- 
ed into ice by cold, and not into air ? Why does a 
stone always descend, and never ascend ? No neces- 
sity by supposition operates to produce these effects, 
either at all or in a uniform manner. Chance can 
have no power to produce these effects, since first 
there can be no such thing as chance^ every thing 
requiring and supposing an efficient cause, — even the 
throwing of dice or the drawing of a lottery, which 
have more the appearance of chance than any thing 
else. But even if we could suppose any thing pro- 
duced by chance, the very word implies an absence 
of design, of uniformity, and of plan ; and in such a 
case we might expect to see the world converted 
into a perfect chaos, some things half animal and half 
vegetable; some half horse and half fish, some with 
heads in one place and some in another, and some 
none at all ; some with a nose or ears in one place, 
and some in another, and some without any ; men 
with only the instinct of brutes, and horses and 
cows with the reason of men ; vegetables capable in 
some parts of them of seeing or hearing, and men, 
some of them not having any or but part of the sens- 



8 

es. This would be the effect that might be expect- 
ed from chance^ as such, if such a thing could even 
be supposed. But nothing of this kind is ever seen, 
except in some very rare cases, of what are called 
lusus naturce, and which seem to be produced for 
the very purpose of showing that they are a deviation 
from a uniform plan, and that chance has nothing to 
do with it ; since, if uniformity be the result of chance, 
there never would be any thing but uniformity ; if 
deviation be the result of chance, there would be 
nothing but deviation. 

I have, I think, satisfactorily shown, that nothing 
can be produced by what are called secondary causes^ 
by what is called necessity, or by what is called 
chance. There is therefore but one remaining way 
of accounting for their production, and that is, that 
they are produced by some Being, in whom re- 
side the design^ the power, and the intelligence ne- 
cessary for this purpose, and is, in other words, the 
Deity himself. 

Now the Deity himself being proved to be the 
Author of every thing we see in nature, he must him- 
self have consequently existed at a period anterior 
to them all. And as we cannot suppose him to have 
come into being at any particular period, since w^e 
cannot suppose any thing to have existed prior to 
him, to call him into being ; it follows therefore that 
he must be self-existent and eternal. And since he 
is proved to be the Author of every tiring in the 



universe, and constantly employed in all the ope- 
rations that are going on in it, he must be omnipo- 
tent^ omnipresent ydinA omniscient ; that is, Aavm^ ah- 
solute control over his works, superintending all of 
them, and understanding all their operations. 

The circumstance .then of the Deity being an om- 
nipotent Being, will also prove his Unity ; since it is 
utterly impossible that there should be more than one 
omnipotent being in the universe ; the very fact of 
omnipotence excluding the possibility. For if there 
could be two omnipotent beings supposed, hoth^ by 
reason of their omnipotence, would have it in their 
power to do whatever they chose ; one then would 
have it perfectly in his power, for instance, being om- 
nipotent, to create a world ; the other would have it 
perfectly in his power, being also omnipotent, to pre- 
vent the first from creating the world ; and the first 
would again have it in his power to resist the second 
in his attempt to prevent him ; in other words, both 
could do and could not do, the same thing at the same 
time, — which is a contradiction. This therefore 
proves, that in the nature of things there can be but 
one omnipotent being, and also proves that there is 
a natural impossibility that he should create a being 
equal to himself, this involving an absurdity in itself. 
This then conclusively proves, I conceive, the strict 
Divine Unity^ and is utterly destructive to the doc- 
trine of a Trinity. 



10 

In confirmation of this deduction from abstract 
reasoning of the Unity of Deity ^ the unity of design 
manifested in all the operations of the material, the 
moral, and the intellectual world will have considera- 
ble weight. For although if such a thing could be 
supposed, as two or more Deities co-equal in all their 
attributes, it would clearly follow that there would 
still be the same unity of design apparent, as they 
would all be acting under the same influence pre- 
cisely, and of course leading to the same ends, still 
having by other reasoning proved there can be but 
one omnipotent, or in other words, one sovereign be- 
ing, and that all others, let their powers be what 
they may, must be subordinate to and dependent 
upon him, it follows that the unity of design appa- 
rent in the moral and physical universe must be his 
work alone, in such a sense, that he is to be consid- 
ered either the Author of it directly, or through the 
agency of others, who may be commissioned by him 
for this purpose. This unity of design, when taken 
alone^ therefore, does not so much prove the Unity 
of the Deity, as the want of it would, that there 
were a number of distinct Deities, each of limited 
powers in the universe, which would clearly follow 
from such want of design, since one and the same 
being cannot be supposed to have opposite or diffe- 
rent ends in view, and of couise use opposite and 
different means to effect them* 



11 

The reason why men in all ages have been Poly- 
theists may be found, I think, in the imperfect culti- 
vation of their reason, and as a consequence, their 
erroneous views respecting themselves and the uni- 
verse beyond them. Finding that they had implanted 
within them certain passions and appetites, which, 
when indulged in a certain manner, and beyond a 
certain degree, became not only a source of uneasi- 
ness in themselves, but were productive of pain and 
suffering, loss and disappointment as a consequence 
also, they were led to conceive these proceeded 
from a distinct principle of their nature, and not that 
they were an abuse and perversion of principles 
perfectly innocent in themselves and intended to be 
beneficial in their operation. And once having got 
this notion of a distinct principle, which they consid- 
ered to be an evil one from its effects, they were led 
to ascribe its origin and influence to some evil Deity, 
as Pluto or the Devil. Thus much for their notions 
respecting moral evil. Perceiving also, that they 
were subject to suffering of one kind and another, 
which did not appear to be the consequence of their 
own conduct at all, and in itself often unavoida- 
ble, such as sickness and calamities of different kinds 
which are what is called natural evil, and the object 
of which we now clearly understand ; they were led 
to refer these disastrous events to the influence of 
the same evil Deity. This is, I apprehend, the true 
solution of their belief in an Evil Deity, as a distinct 



12 

sovereign being, who held a divided empire over the 
universe. 

So also under the influence of the same kind of 
imperfect conceptions, and reasoning from the hmit- 
ed powers and agency of man in his operations, they 
were led to the supposition, that there w^ere a num^ 
ber of deities in the universe, each of whom had a 
distinct sphere in which to move and act, the opera- 
tions of which were entirely different in their nature, 
and supposed the possession of different attributes in 
a greater or less perfection. Finding among mankind 
no one individual excelling generally in the display 
of more than one kind of talent or personal endow- 
ment, or distinguishing himself in more than one kind 
of pursuit, reasoning from analogy they concluded it 
must also be the case in the government of the uni- 
verse. They therefore deified certain qualities held 
in high estimation among themselves, as valor, wis- 
dom, eloquence, beauty, &c. ascribing these in their 
order to Mars, Minerva, Apollo, Venus, &:c. So 
also they gave the dominion of the sea to Neptune, 
and supposed Ceres had control over the harvest. 
They placed Jupiter, to be sure, at the head of the 
universe, giving him the chief direction of its gov- 
ernment, but still did not seem to consider him ca- 
pable alone of performing those operations which 
fell within the province of the subordinate deities. 
This mode of accounting for Polytheism may, I think, 
be appUed to all the systems which have existed 



13 

among all nations, who have not had the light of 
Revelation. We, however, who have more just con- 
ceptions of the Divine character, know, from the very- 
nature of his attributes, that he is capable of perform- 
ing all these various functions of himself alone^ and 
does not need the aid of any being whatever for this 
purpose. 

As to what are called good and evil in the uni- 
verse, I consider that strictly speaking there is but 
one kind of evil, and that is moral evil. What is 
called natural evil, being not in itself dind not intend- 
ed to be an evil, but only so in its first effects, being 
in fact often and capable of being always converted 
into the greatest good, by its beneficial influence, as 
a discipline or punishment, upon the character and 
welfare of the person suffering it. And as to moral 
evil, this I conceive not to exist at all in the uni- 
verse, as a distinct, independent principle, residing in 
a distinct, independent power, but as consisting mere^ 
ly and always in a perversion of those passions, ap- 
petites, and emotions, which were given us to pro- 
mote our virtue and happiness. Every bad feeling 
and passion will be found, I think, upon analysing it, 
to consist merely in a feeling or passion, good in 
themselves, but suffered to be indulged upon an im^ 
proper occasion, in an improper manner, or to an im- 
proper degree. Thus revenge and cruelty are but a 
perversion and excessive indulgence of the passion 
of anger, which in itself is not only an innocent but 
2 



14 

a necessary part of our constitution, given us for self- 
preservation, and to prompt us to inflict deserved 
punishment upon the violators of our individual 
rights or the rights of society. So also of avarice 
and a thirst of power. These are but a perversion 
of those just principles of our nature which lead us 
to th^ pursuit of property and office, for their fair 
and legitimate objects ; the former to procure the 
comforts of fife for ourselves and those dependent 
upon us, and the latter to enable us to make our- 
selves useful to mankind to the extent of our ability. 
So also with all other qualities and duties. Evil 
therefore is merely relative^ and is the necessary ef- 
fect of our moral constitution, when this constitution 
is perverted from its intended design and use. Good 
propensities become evil when they are carried to 
excess, and what are called evil propensities become 
good^ when properly restrained and regulated. 



A FUTURE LIFE DISCOVERABLE BY REASON. 

PARTI. 

Reason as well as revelation informs us that the 
Deity is an infinitely wise, powerful, and benevolent 
Being, omniscient and omnipresent, self-existent and 
eternal, both as it regards the past and tlie future 
duration. This, however, is not the place to show 



15 

in what way we derive the evidence of these truths 
from the exercise of reason. For the purpose of 
the following remarks, I shall take it for granted that 
they are admitted. Such then being the character of 
the Deity, there is no expectation from reason alone, 
I conceive, to be drawn from it, considered in the ab- 
stract, in favor of 2i future state, without reference to 
the nature and condition of man in this world, as we 
see he has constituted them, — since the possession 
merely of these attributes do not in themselves 
necessarily imply that he should in the Jirst instance 
create any beings for a future state ; for if it did 
any, it would all, as well the brute creation as the 
human. All that they do imply, is, that the nature 
and the period of existence given to any class of 
beings or individuals of them, should on the whole 
be productive of happiness to them or him, provided 
a proper use be made of them. 

My first reason for a belief of 2i future state, inde- 
pendent of revelation, however paradoxical it may 
seem, is the fact of the revelation itself of this truth. 
As revelation has made known the nature and condition 
of man in this world, as being intended to fit him for 
another and endless state of being, the very fact of 
mankind having existed without this revelation for so 
long a period of time, and that so many nations are now 
ignorant of it, is evidence to my mind, that it is a truth, 
as well as all others depending upon it, that might 
and were designed to be discovered by reason itself. 



16 

without a revelation. For I cannot conceive that a 
Being with the attributes belonging to the Deity 
would place mankind in a world designed to prepare 
them for another, and put them under the guidance 
of reason, and still render them incapable of discov- 
ering by the use of this faculty, the fact that they 
were designed for a future state, and in what way 
to render themselves fitted for it. This would in 
fact be the contriving a plan, or devising a purpose 
on the part of the Deity, without having furnished 
the necessary aids for its fulfilment, and would there- 
fore be ascribing to him imperfection in some part of 
his character. Now as no one can for a moment 
entertain the last supposition, it follows as an inevi- 
table consequence, that the faculty of reason was at 
all periods of the world adequate to the discovery of 
the probability of a futuru life, and that it hns been 
owing to the abuse or a want of a proper exercise of 
this faculty that this discovery was not made. Find- 
ing however that mankind failed to make the discov- 
ery for one or the other of these causes, the Deity 
was pleased in the exercise of his sovereign grace to 
make it known to them by a revelation. 

That the probabihty of a future Hfe might have 
been and is discoverable by the exercise of reason 
alone, I think will be made to appear from the fol- 
lowing considerations : — And first, because the ca- 
pacity of mankind for intellectual improvement, and 
the happiness consequent upon it, clearly exceeds 



17 

very much the progress which they can by possibili- 
ty make in these respects in this world. I do not 
now speak of the progress which they rfo, but which 
they are able to make here. If mankind were able 
by the correct use of their faculties in this world, to 
attain to the perfection of their nature, so that they 
would know all that they are capable of knowing, 
could reach to the utmost boundary of their capacity 
for knowledge, this circumstance, if it did not furnish 
a probability that this was the only state, in which 
they were designed to exist, would furnish no proba- 
bility of any other state. But this not being the 
case, as it is within the observation and will be with- 
in the experience of every one, there arises from 
it very strong reasons for the expectation that there 
will be this other state, where this capacity will have 
full scope, and the field for its exercise be very 
much enlarged. For we cannot suppose the Creator 
would, consistently with his character, endue any of 
his creatures with natures which could not be fully 
developed and cultivated, during the period of ex- 
istence assigned to them. This would be a waste of 
power and wisdom in him. The examples of the 
fact of this world not affording full scope for the 
improvement and exercise of our faculties, may be 
found, not only in the case of every individual him- 
self, but also in that of those persons who were in a 
remarkable degree distinguished for their intellectu- 
al powers and knowledge who have been cut off in 
2^ 



18 

the very vigor of life, and at the very time when they 
were employed in rewarding themselves, and the 
world, by their wonderful attainments in science and 
literature. It may be found also, in the fact of each 
generation in the natural cause of things improving up- 
on xhe preceding^ this furnishing evidence that no past 
generation has attained to all the knowledge of which 
they were capable, and this, not for any deficiency 
in the capacity itself, but want of time for its exer- 
cise. For we cannot suppose that a higher grade 
of intellectual powers is given to each succeeding 
generation, than to the past. 

In the case of the brutes^ we see that they are ca- 
pable of arriving to a complete developement of 
their powers in this state of things. Each genera- 
tion treads exactly in the steps of the preceding. 
Their manner of Ufe and of supplying their wants 
continue precisely the same, and no improvement of 
any kind in this respect is ever made. It is true 
there are individuals of the species, who are led to 
perform some surprising feats by a course of instruc- 
tion ; but this I conceive to proceed from the exer- 
cise of memory and the power of association, they 
not understanding in any degree the object or the 
use of those feats, and it not being in any degree an 
improvement of their nature or answering the object 
of their existence. This circumstance, while it 
shows the difference between the nature of man and 
the brute creation, raises a presumption in itself that 



1 



19 

they are not intended for any other state of things 
than the present. 

The preceding remarks apply exclusively to the 
intellectual nature of man. I now come to his moral 
nature. We find him endued with a moral consti- 
tution capable of improvement and ultimately of its 
perfection^ — of its perfection as implying that every 
part of it is made to act within its appropriate sphere, 
and on its proper occasion, so as to produce an entire 
harmony and co-operation in the whole character 
of the individual, — that the degree of happiness of 
man, other things being equal, as a natural and neces- 
sary consequence, does depend upon this perfection 
of his character or his approach to it ; — and that in 
order to produce such a character, he is placed in a 
world where he may encounter a great deal of suf- 
fering and meet severe trials of one kind and another, 
which suffering and trials are in themselves calculated 
to strengthen certain principles of his nature which 
may be deficient in vigor, and reform others which 
may have been perverted from their original design. 
But though this state of things seems calculated to 
form such a character, it does not seem calculated to 
reward it, or in other words, confer all the happiness 
upon it, of which it is naturally capable. It is not 
calculated for this purpose, 1. Because the fact 
of it being a state of discipline in itself implies a state 
of more or less suffering, and but partially a reward 
for this suffering ; and 2. Because the relation an 



20 

individual sustains to the rest of mankind here which 
is productive often of much suffering in consequence 
of their conduct, without flowing at all from his own, 
while it may constitute a necessary part of a plan of 
discipline in this world, and is entirely unavoidable 
while the present state of things remains as it is, 
prevents it from being a state of any but imperfect 
happiness. Now the circumstance that men are 
sent into this world, fitted to produce these charac- 
ters, but not fitted to impart to them all the hap- 
piness of which they are capable, renders it in a 
high degree probable that there is to be another 
state, where these impediments will cease to operate, 
and where all the happiness will be reahzed of which 
our nature is capable. For it is not to be presumed 
that the Deity, with the character we ascribe to him, 
would oblige us to endure all this suffering and go 
through all these trials for no possible beneficial pur- 
pose, to acquire a character w^hich was to be of lit- 
tle or no use to us, as it might not be, if we were 
not to exist in another state of things. 

As it respects the hruie creation, we find that they 
are not exposed to these trials, and that their nature 
is as perfect w^hen they first come to maturity, as it 
ever is afterwards. They appear to live in a state 
commonly of uninterrupted tranquillity and comfort, 
to which there appears to be no hindrance or sub- 
traction. Their habits and character do not appear 
to admit of any moral improvement or exercise. It 



21 

is true it has been adduced as evidence of brutes 
being moral beings and accountable for their conduct, 
that they may be made to refrain from practices to 
which they are addicted, by applications, painful to 
them. It is said, for instance, that a dog who is 
addicted to stealing meat, may be broken of this 
habit by whipping him whenever he does it. But 
this furnishes no evidence of his moral nature, but 
merely of his power of forming habits of association. 
The dog associates the idea of pain with the idea 
of stealing meat, and is led in this way to avoid 
stealing it. But he has no idea of the nature of 
property^ or of theft^ or that he is doing any one a 
wrong by taking the meat. The ideas of right and 
wrong, which constitute the essence of a moral ac- 
tion, do not occur at all to him. All that does 
occur to him, is the apprehension of suffering pain 
if he takes the meat. This may, to be sure, 
prove him to possess the faculty of reason in a very 
low degree, since any association of ideas and de- 
duction from it, is an exercise of reason ; but this 
does not necessarily imply any knowledge of or re- 
gard to moral distinctions, any more than the exer- 
cise of reason in solving a problem in Euclid implies 
in itself any view to moral considerations, or is in 
any way a moral act. We can suppose a man, with- 
out that part of his nature which is called moral, 
capable of this exercise of intellect. So we may 
of brutes. 



22 

It does not appear therefore from this habit of 
association, that brutes are moral beings, capable 
of improving their natures, and therefore raise a 
presumption that they are intended for another state 
of being. 

The natural desire of man for a future hfe, I con- 
sider as rendering such a life probable, it being evi- 
dence of the idea of a future life existing in his 
mind ; which it is impossible to account for, except 
upon the supposition that this was rendered probable 
by the hght of reason, since it existed with those 
who never had the Ught of revelation, as among the 
most distinguished philosophers of Rome and Greece. 
If the idea existed, the desire would follow of 
course ; by accounting for the one, therefore, you 
account for the other. Now why this idea and the 
hope founded upon it should have been suffered to 
take possession of their minds, and have an influ- 
ence upon their conduct, if the hope was never 
to be gratified, is altogether inexplicable. A motive 
of conduct would in this way be presented to the 
human mind for no possible purpose requiring its 
operation, since all the objects of this life consider- 
ed alone, could be accompHshed by other motives. 
The fact that the brutes^ as far as we know, have no 
idea of a future life, and no desire founded upon it, 
renders it probable that they never will pass into one. 
The unequal distribution of what are called good 
and evil of this life, happiness and misery not being 



23 

in all cases the consequence of moral conduct, but 
proceeding often from circumstances totally discon- 
nected with it, while it will account for this world 
being a state of moral discipline, proves that it is not 
a state of final and perfect retribution. The virtu- 
ous often are called to endure severe and long con- 
tinued afiiiction from causes altogether foreign tO 
their conduct, and the vicious do not suffer a pun- 
ishment sufficiently severe in all cases to effect a 
reformation of their conduct. This renders it in a 
high degree probable that there will be another state, 
where the perfectly righteous will not be called to 
endure any more pain, the object of it as disci- 
plinary being accomplished, — and where the wicked 
will be subjected to such a punishment as is best 
calculated to reform and purify their character. 

With the bruiesj no part of their sufferings seems 
to be disciplinary^ considered in a moral point of 
view, they being incapable of understanding the mor- 
al qualities of actions ; and no part a punishment^ in 
such a point of view. It is not probable therefore 
from this circumstance that they are destined for a 
future state of being. 

I do not think any expectation of a future life can 
be drawn from the ^re^a^e^ of conscience^ considered 
separately. When the expectation of a future life 
has once entered the mind, the apprehension of in- 
curring punishment for sin committed here will 
spring up in the breast as a necessary consequence 



24 

of a consciousness of it ; and the creation of this 
apprehension may be considered as one of the offices 
of conscience. But this affords no probabihty of a 
future hfe, except that derived from the expectation 
of it, which has been before considered. If it was 
not supposed probable, there would be no apprehen- 
sion of punishment, and so no presages of con- 
science concerning it. The latter are the effect and 
not the cause of the former. 

The fact of the expectation of a future hfe having 
been entertained in all ages, with more or less distinct- 
ness by mankind, however imperfect or erroneous 
their notions of it may have been, is evidence that 
they derived this behef from the exercise of their 
reason ; for we do not know that this belief was 
entertained by any nation prior to the Christian 
system, m consequence of any revelation. That this 
beUef did exist in some form or other among the 
most learned men of antiquity, will abundantly ap- 
pear from their writings. 

My conclusion from all the foregoing remarks is, 
that mankind have a right to entertain a strong ex- 
pectation of a future hfe, from the light furnished by 
reason alone, which would have been sufficient of 
itself for this, and every other purpose, had they 
made that use of it, of which it was capable, and 
which it was designed they should make ; and that 
a revelation of this and other truths was made, be- 
cause they did not exercise their reason in the man- 



25 

ner intended, in order to make these discoveries. 
And now, instead of exercising their reason in dis- 
covering these truths, they are called upon to exer- 
cise it in examining the evidence of the revelation, 
which contains them. And they will be as certain- 
ly punished, if they neglect to exercise it in this 
examination and regulate their beUef and conduct 
according to the latter, when found to be proved, 
as they would have been before, had they acted 
against the Ught of reason itself. 



A FUTURE LIFE DISCOVERABLE BY REASON. 
PART II. 

In the previous remarks, I have endeavored to 
show that both the intellectual and moral capacity 
of mankind raised a strong presumption in favor of 
a future life ; the former as exceeding very much 
the progress which they can by possibility make in 
knowledge in this life ; and the latter as intended to 
form that perfect character, which, while the present 
state of things is fitted to produce, is not fitted en- 
tirely to reward, since besides the other reasons then 
given, men are often taken out of it, just as they 
have in a great measure acquired this character. 
These two considerations, together with others of 
less weight, were considered as raising a strong 
3 



26 

presumption of a future state, without reference to 
its duration. But they are calculated not only to 
make a future life probable, but also that this life 

"^^ • will be eternal. The first, the intellectual capacity 

of man, I conceive to be endless in its scope, as be- 
ing adequate in its progress to the attainment by de- 
grees of all the knowledge which the works of the 

** Creator in all their multiplied forms are fitted to im- 

part. Now as this knowledge is in itself inexhaust- 

"^ ible, since the subjects of it are continually develop- 

ing themselves ; it follows, that the mind of man 
may be employed to all eternity in collecting it. 
After the present subjects of it are exhausted, the 
mind will probably be no nearer, if so near, a com- 
prehension of all the knowledge relating to all the 
works of Deity, than when it began ; since these 
works will be probably going on, at the same time that 
its inquiries are pursuing — and at any period in the 
duration of eternity, there will probably more truths 
have come into being, than mankind can have learned 
during this period ; for while they are employed in 
learning, the Deity is also employed in exerting his 

^ '*' power, wisdom, and benevolence, in the creation of 

* new forms and new relations. There will, therefore, 

be no more reason for mankind ceasing to exist at 

'^^ any given period throughout eternity, than to cease to 

^ « exist upon leaving this world ; since their capacity 

* for improvement in knowledge is infinite, and the 

subjects of it also equally infinite. So also, in re- 



27 

gard.to. the perfect moral character, which this world 
is. intended and fitted to form in men, as quahfying 
them. for. another state of things, — though this, in it- 
self, would not necessarily raise a presumption that 
the future hfe will be eternal^ since we can conceive 
the object of it as accomplished by a period of hap- 
piness /ar short of eternity; and our idea of Divine 
benevolence requiring no more than this — yet taken 
in connexion with our boundless intellectual capacity, 
as before considered, it raises a strong presumption 
in favor of an endless period of existence. For 
this perfect moral character is as essential, I con- 
ceive, to the apprehension of all these subjects of 
knowledge, as the intellectual capacity itself; since 
it will be true, I apprehend, as well in the next world 
as in the present, that the correct perception of mor- 
al truth and the pleasure to be derived from it, will 
depend essentially upon the cultivation of a just moral 
taste and habits, so that the former cannot exist with- 
out the latter. I speak now oi moral truths, or those 
calculated to make a moral impression and address- 
ed to moral feeling, in contradistinction to truths 
purely intellectual^ which do not suppose or depend 
upon the existence of our moral nature. And it is 
this kind of truths, I apprehend, the investigation of 
which will chiefly employ the capacity of man 
through the boundless ages of eternity. 

The object of the present state of things seeming 
then to be a state of discipline and probation, to 



■'m- 



28 

prepare mankind for the future world, and this im- 
plying in it punishment for the purpose of reforming 
them, when they have perverted their nature, which 
not being in all cases effected by the dispensa- 
'*^'tions of Providence here, since many leave the 
world with characters more or less sinful, it is rea- 
sonable to infer that the future state will be so far a 
continuance of the present, that the same objects 
will be kept in view, and the course of Providence 
ordered with reference to this end. Those who 
have acquired such perfect characters, as will make 
them capable of perfect happiness, will, on leaving 
this world, probably be admitted immediately to a 
state of perfect happiness of infinite duration . Those 
who are still imperfect in their characters, and of 
course incapable of perfect happiness, will again be 
placed in a state of probation, where they will be 
subjected to such dispensations as are best calcu- 
lated to improve and perfect their characters — and 
those who are sinful^ be it in a greater or less de- 
gree, will meet with such punishments in respect to 
duration, kind, and degree, as are best fitted to 
reform and purify them, which punishment will 
probably be continued and varied till the purpose 
is effected. 

The next question to be considered is, how far 
the objection arising from the event of death has a 
tendency to impair the presumption of a future life. 
To answer this objection properly, a number of con- 



29 

siderations must be examined. And first, we know 
from our own consciousness, that the operations of 
mind, as reason, memory, imagination, and conscious- 
ness itself, are qualities, if so they may be called, 
which belong to our idea of spirit^ as distinguished 
from matter. Extension, figure, solidity, and motion 
are the properties which we find to belong to matter, 
and which are entirely unlike the former. We have 
a right therefore to conclude from these different 
properties, that the 5i(65^ance in which they inhere is 
of a nature entirely different, unless we find phenom- 
ena arising out of the pecuhar organization of our 
system to contradict this conclusion. It will be prop- 
er, therefore, to inquire what these phenomena are. 
We find that all our ideas are produced by impres- 
sions first made upon the senses, and by them carried 
to the thinking principle, be this what it may ; that 
these senses are merely the instruments or media, 
by which these impressions are communicated, and 
that the impressions do not become ideas or objects 
of perception until they are recognized by the think- 
ing principle. They then become what are called 
ideas received by sensation. After a sufficient num- 
ber of these ideas are collected in the mind, they 
become the subjects of other operations entirely 
internal^ in which the senses have no agency ; 
such as abstraction, conception, imagination, mem- 
ory, reason, &z:c From these operations arise anoth- 
er class of ideas, which are called ideas produced by 
3^ 



30 

reflection. And it is from these two kinds of ope- 
rations, with all their modifications and processes, that 
we derive all the ideas of which our nature is capa- 
ble ; in other words, all our knowledge of every kind. 
Now I think it may clearly be made to appear from 
our own experience and observation, that our mate- 
rial organization is employed in both these processes, 
both in those of sensation and reflection^ — and that 
the conclusion will necessarily follow from this cir- 
cumstance, (together with the facts I first stated, of 
the operations of mind and of matter considered 
separately, appearing to be entirely different,) that 
all our ideas are produced by the action of mind, 
or what may be called pure spirit, or the soul, upon 
this material organization, which I consider to be the 
brain, or some part of it. 

It seems to be generally admitted, that the ideas 
received by sensation, depend in part upon material 
organization, as the senses ; but I mean in a view 
beyond these, not only in the senses themselves, but 
in that part of the brain to which they are carried, 
and where they are placed under the cognizance of 
the mind or thinking principle itself, — But the ideas 
produced by reflection have been considered by 
those who believe in the purely spiritual nature of the 
mind, as plainly accounted for by operations purely 
intellectual, without supposing the intervention of any 
material organization whatever. In this, I think 
they are mistaken, and that material organization is 



31 

employed in hoth cases. And the facts from which I 
draw this conclusion are the following. In the first 
place, I say we are conscious of an actual sensation 
in the head or brain, when we are employed in 
thinking. We all of us make this part of the sys- 
tem, without reasoning at all upon the subject, the 
-seat of thought. Now if the soul did not reside 
here, and make use of this part of our organiza- 
tioU; it would, I think, be impossible to account for 
this sensation. I infer too, that the hrain is employ- 
ed in all processes of thought from the sensation in 
it of pain, or lassitude, which often follow severe 
exertion of the intellectual powers, and which is 
within the experience of almost every student. 
This will appear to be the case too, I think, when 
we consider how entirely the operations of the mind 
are affected by insanity, epilepsy, apoplexy, idiot- 
ism, old age, and a blow upon the head. For I 
cannot conceive of any thing, merely spiritual^ be- 
ing affected by any diseases or accidents. These, 
some of them, produce a perverted exercise of 
its powers, leading to false conclusions either in part 
or entirely, as insanity — and the others, to a partial 
or total suspension of its powers, as epilepsy, idi- 
otism, old age, a blow on the head, &£c. Now it is 
not merely the ideas procured by sensation^ but also 
those produced by reflection^ which are effected by 
these maladies. The insane man not only sees ob- 
jects which do not exist, but reasons upon false pre- 



32 

mises in his mind, upon the wild chimera of his own 
imagination. And persons affected by apoplexy, 
idiotism, old age, he. not only have their ideas re- 
ceived from sensation partially or entirely obliterat- 
ed by these disorders, but also are made incapable 
by them of but very feeble efforts of reflection. 
Sleejp, too, or a want of it, affects both these opera- 
tions ; sleep, by locking up the senses and the re- 
flecting powers, and the want of it; by rendering 
them in a great degree incapable of performing their 
offices. From these circumstances, it appears evi- 
dent, that all the intellectual operations depend upon 
the state of the brain, as affected by external causes. 

But the foregoing considerations, while they show 
that that part of the material organization which is 
called the brain is necessary to the operations of 
the mind, so that the mind cannot act as we are at 
present constituted, except through its agency, does 
not prove that the organization itself is the mind^ 
or that it will always be necessary to assist its ope- 
rations. While the connexion of mind and matter, 
and the action of the former upon the latter, cannot 
now be understood, the fact that they are in them- 
selves distinct substances, may fairly be inferred from 
the different properties that I have before enumerat- 
ed, belonging to matter under every other form, in 
which we see it, except that of the animated creation. 

Besides the foregoing reasoning to prove the pure- 
ly spiritual nature of the thinking principle, itself 



33 

another presumption in favor of this conclusion, taken 
in connexion with the doctrine of a future life, as 
deducible from othei" considerations, is the strong 
probability that the mind would perish at death with 
the dissolution of the body, if it were merely a 
part of the phenomena belonging to the body it- 
self. For as in this case, it would altogether arise 
out of the peculiar organization of the body itself, 
it would be perfectly fair to infer that it would cease, 
with the destruction of the organization upon which 
it depended. I know the attempt has been made to 
destroy the effect of such reasoning, by saying that 
as consciousness itself is a single, indivisible power, 
it should seem that the subject in which it resides 
should be so too, and so indestructible, in the same 
way that a thing moved must be indivisible and in- 
destructible, or the ultimate atom, when the motion 
of it cannot be supposed to be divided, so that one 
part of the motion should be in one place, and one 
part in another. But I think this reasoning falla- 
cious, because no inference can be drawn from mO' 
(ion to consciousness ; motion merely relating to the 
knoivn properties of matter, as extension and solidi- 
ty, and depending upon these and nothing else, it is 
fair to conclude, that where it can be said the motion 
cannot be divided, the substance itself also cannot 
be divided. But consciousness, even supposing it to 
inhere, in a solely material substance, (and it must 
be upon this supposition the analogy is framed, since 



34 



supposing consciousnes to appertain to mere spirit^ 
nothing can be affirmed of its divisibility, or des- 
tructibility, these depending upon properties relating 
to inatter only,) not being seen to depend upon the 
extension and solidity of the body, in such a sense that 
these properties are alone sufficient to account for and 
explain it ; it does not follow that a single conscious- 
ness necessarily imphes the singleness of the sub- 
stance employed in producing it, so that the latter 
being supposed indestructible^ the consciousness must 
as a consequence remain undestroyed too, and that 
the single substances being multipHed in number, 
the distinct consciousness would be so too. For 
even supposing consciousness to be merely the re- 
sult of material organization, it might be the effect 
of this entire system of organization, and not of any 
particular part of it, in the same way that the motion 
of tlie hands of a clock depend, upon the action of 
the whole system of machinery contained by the 
clock, and not upon the action of any particular part 
of it ; and in this case, if a part were destroyed, the 
consciousness would cease, as the hands of the clock 
would cease moving, if part of the machinery were 
destroyed. 

It has been said too, that even supposing the mind 
to be a phenomenon, produced by material organiza- 
tion, the event of death would not create a probabili-^ 
ty of its extinction, since our limbs and senses make 
no part of our living being, but are only employed 



35 

as instruments by it to furnish it with impressions or 
the materials of ideas. And that we can not only 
conceive that these parts of the body should be 
taken away without the living beings or the soul, 
being affected by it, but that it is a fact within every 
day's experience, that these parts are removed and 
this priciple not affected by it. This fact then be- 
ing established, it is asked, if such large masses of 
our material frame can be removed, why may we 
not conceive that the whole frame should be dis- 
solved, and yet the living powers in the soul remain 
unaffected ? Now it seems to me the answer is a 
very easy one, and it is, that when our limbs or 
senses are taken away, that part of the material 
organization which is supposed to be directly em- 
ployed in the processes of thought, and which I 
consider to be some part of the brain, is not injured, 
and in order to make out the conclusion or analogy 
attempted, it should be shown that the entire brain 
can be removed, and still the living powers be seen 
to exist in their full vigor. I say the entire brain, 
since it has been said, that a part of it may be re- 
moved, and the mind remain apparently uninjured. 
How this fact is, I do not know. 

It is also said, that men retain their vigor of 
mind entire up to the very moment of death, when 
their body has been continually wasting away by a 
long sickness, and all the animal powers seem to 
have almost entirely ceased. It is asked, if this be 



36 

the case, what reason have we for concluding, (upon 
this supposition, of material organization producing 
the operations of mind,) that at the very moment 
of death, this vigor of mind will entirely disap- 
pear? I think the answer the same as before, 
that the disease has been of such a kind as not 
to extend to the organization of the brain up to 
the time of death, which by the supposition is the 
seat of the soul ; and so its powers are not affected 
by it. But in the event of death, the brain itself 
becomes disorganized and dissolved. This being 
the case, if the mind were merely the effect of ma- 
terial organization, it would be fair to infer that it 
would perish too. Again, do we not see persons, 
having all their Kmbs and senses entire and in full 
exercise, and with every mark of bodily health, and 
still the powers of their mind apparently destroyed, 
or very much enfeebled, or else entirely perverted, 
as in the case of idiots or insane persons ? Now in 
these cases it is that part of the material organization, 
upon which their mind is supposed to depend, which 
is in some way or other deranged, while the 7'est of 
their system remains in perfect health and vigor. 
In the former case, as the rest of the animal system 
was disorganized, and the brain not, so in this, the 
brain is, and the i-est of the system is not. 

From all these considerations, I think the conclu- 
sion will irresistibly follow, that while the material 
organization of the brain is essential to the operations 



37 

of the soul in this world, so that they cannot be 
carried on without it, it is not the soul itself. But 
that the soul itself is purely spiritual, and created 
at the same time with the body, and that after 
it is furnished with the knowledge and charac- 
ter, which it was designed to procure through the 
agency of the body, will, upon being separated from 
it, be enabled in another world either to exist and 
act by itself alone, or in connexion with some 
other kind of organization, the nature of which, whe- 
ther material or not. it is at present impossible for 
us to know. 

The arguments, then, drawn from the light of na- 
ture, I think in a high degree satisfactory to a mind 
which is willing to be satisfied with a strong balance 
of probabilities ; which is all it has any right to ex- 
pect from this source. And considering the im- 
mense, or, more properly speaking, the overwhelming 
nature of the interests involved in the question, being 
no less than eternity as contrasted with a mere 
point of duration, called time ; and severe and dread- 
ful punishment, with perfect and endless happiness ! 
no rational being, or rather no person, not a mad- 
man, ought to hesitate to be governed by them. 
And even as it regards the welfare of this world 
alone, while it cannot be known that in any particu- 
lar instance it will, even for a time, be increased by a 
deviation from moral duty ; the probability, arising 
from the natural tendency of things, is, that this 
4 



38 

welfare would be much enhanced by a strict obser- 
vance of moral duty. The hindrances to this ten- 
dency, being in themselves contingences and excep- 
tions, which may or may not happen ; while the 
punishment for sin, both here and hereafter, may be 
considered a natural and probable effect. 

Persons, therefore, who do not conduct themselves 
as if the doctrine of a future hfe were known and 
proved, without regard to revelation, are not only 
inexcusable, but can blame only themselves for all 
the consequences they will incur and suffer in 
consequence of their actions. The circumstance 
that they are not convinced hy the evidence and rea- 
soning founded upon it, making no odds, if these be 
such as ought, and would convince, calm, inquiring, 
and candid minds. 



FOREKNOWLEDGE, EXISTENCE OF EVIL, AND A SUPERIN- 
TENDING PROVIDENCE. 

The doctrine of the foreknowledge of the Deity, 
and the moral freedom of man, has by some persons 
been considered irreconcilable. And these persons 
have either contented themselves with the belief that 
one or the other doctrine is erroneous, or else that it 
is a mystery not to be fathomed by the human mind. 
Now the difficulty suggested is altogether superficial, 
and arises from an imperfect view of the subject. It 



39 

Is asked, how events which are to follow each other in 
succession, as cause and consequence, through a long 
period of future time, and which are to be in them- 
selves contingent, that is, brought about by human 
agents in the exercise of their voluntary power, can 
be foreseen by the Deity, unless he exercise an irre- 
sistible control over these agents, and does in effect 
compel them to be mere instruments in effecting his 
purposes. 

To this I reply, that the attribute of foreknowledge, 
although, like the other attributes of the Almighty, it 
is incomprehensible to us, yet as making a part of the 
perfection of hi^ character must be received as an 
indisputable truth. And that man is a free and ac- 
countable being also, is a truth, of which every one 
is convinced by a consciousness of the fact — a kind 
of evidence superior to that of reason or any thing 
else. These two doctrines being admitted, then, as 
indisputable, let us see how far they are as difficult 
to be reconciled as is by some supposed. Taking 
any future series of events, it is certain that they 
must either happen or not happen, and cannot do 
both ; and this certainty, either that they will or will 
not happen, exists just as much before the time 
comes, as afterwards — and just as much, whether 
they are or are not foreseen by any being whatever. 
Taking the events of the American Revolution, for 
instance, it was certain from the very beginning of 
time that they would happen, and this without the 



40 

supposition of any omniscient power to foresee them 
— merely from the fact that they have happened. 
Now this certainty existing, the difficulty suggested 
vanishes at once. For that they should be foreseen, 
when they must of necessity have happened, is per- 
fectly comprehensible by us. They are foreseen, 
because they will happen, and do not happen, because 
they are foreseen. 

To illustrate this by an example. Take an army, 
for instance, consisting of every different species of 
troops, artillery, infantry, &c. arranged in their 
proper situations. — Now it is certain that these 
troops do occupy the places where we see them, and 
no other. And we see them in these places, not 
because we had any agency in placing them there, 
but because they are actually there ; and they would 
be there, whether we saw them or not. We see thenx 
there because they are there, and thej'- are not there 
because we see them there. So with the doctrine of 
foreknowledge. Any series of events may be com- 
pared in the order of time in which they follow each 
other, to the arrangement of an army, and they 
may be foreseen by a Being possessed of the attri- 
bute of foreknowledge, in the same way that we 
see the latter, and this without necessarily implying 
that this Being had any agency in producing the se- 
ries. Thus we see the doctrines of the Divine 
prescience and human liberty perfectly consistent 
with each other. 



41 

But admitting the truth of these two doctrines, 
there arises another inquiry, and that is, why does 
the Deity permit, or not prevent the existence of so 
much evil and misery in the world, as we observe 
to take place, and which, by the supposition, he sees 
will take place ? In answer to this I say, that God 
has devised the present system of things, as being 
the best which infinite wisdom, impelled by bound- 
less benevolence, could devise ; and as being one 
the best calculated in the end to produce the great- 
est amount of happiness and raise human nature to 
the highest state of perfection. It is true that evil 
and misery exist under it, but this arises from the 
very moral constitution he has given to man, and is 
occasioned directly or remotely by the exercise of 
these very moral powers, either to the individuals 
themselves, or some one suffering in consequence of 
their conduct. And this very evil, by the wise di- 
rection of Divine Providence, becomes either an 
instrument of discipline by which our nature is to 
be purified and perfected, or b, punishment hy which 
the abuse of the Divine gifts is to be reformed and 
corrected. This discipline and this punishment are 
intended both to fit us to enjoy the present world in a 
higher degree than otherwise would be possible, and 
to prepare us for another world, where the measure 
of happiness or misery must depend altogether upon 
the character we carry there. To ask then why 
evil has been permitted to exist in the world, is to 
4* 



42 

ask why the present system of things was adopted ; 
and the only reply which can or ought to be given 
is, that this system is unquestionably the best which 
could be devised. 

The foreknowledge of the Deity, the freedom of 
man, and the existence of evil in the world, in con- 
sistency with infinite benevolence, being explain- 
ed, we come to another important subject of in- 
quiry, viz. the doctrine of a Superintending Provi- 
dence. By this I mean the kind of agency and 
control which the Deity is exerting, in regard to 
the conduct of his creatures and the events of this 
world. That there is this Superintending Provi- 
dence, is within the experience and observation of 
every one who reflects upon the subject or notices 
the progress of events. That there must be this 
Superintending Providence, is evident from the very 
nature of man and character of the Deity. From 
the nature of man, who from the perversion of his 
moral powers might otherwise bring ruin upon him- 
self and his species, and frustrate the very object of 
his creation and of the present system of things. 
From the character of the Deity, whose wisdom, pow- 
er, and benevolence would never commit to chance, 
and the uncontrolled conduct of his creatures, plans 
which were intended to produce results of the 
greatest moment to their happiness and perfection. 

A controlling providence then, in the present state 
of things, being admitted, we proceed to inquire, what 



43 

is the mode in which it is conducted, so as to efFect 
its intended purpose, and not interfere with moral 
liberty ? The moral nature of man consists, I con- 
ceive, in being able to do what he chooses in regard 
to the circumstances in which he happens to be 
placed, perfectly uncontrolled as to the choice he 
shall make. The controlling agency of God con- 
sists, in allowing man to succeed in his measures 
and plans, where they are in accordance with the 
Divine views, or of frustrating them when they are 
opposed to them. And this is ordinarily done in 
the regular course of events, which, though to our 
apprehension they appear but as the necessary suc- 
cession of cause and efFect, are so shaped and di- 
rected by the Deity himself, as to produce the very 
result he desires. 

I will give an illustration of my ideas on this sub- 
ject by an example, which to my mind is striking 
and satisfactory, and which, considering the correct- 
ness of the intention, I trust will offend none by its 
familiarity or seeming irreverence. I will take, for 
instance, the game of chequers^ and consider it as 
exempHfying human life and the course of events. 
On one side I will consider man as learning the 
game ; on the other the Deity acting as his instruct 
ter. The different places on the board I will call, a 
part of them, the voluntary actions of men, and a 
part of them, the events of life, as they are ordered 
by God in reference to these actions. It is the ob- 



44 

ject of the Deity, on his part, to teach man how to 
play the game perfectly, that is, in every instance to 
make a correct move, and in this way to become the 
victor, or accomplish the end of his being. The game 
begins. The board is open before him. Now it is ev- 
ident he may move where he pleases. No control is 
exercised over him. If he moves correctly, it is well ; 
but if he does not, he will probably be taken up, and 
if he continues to play badly, he will continually be 
taken up, and in the end beaten. The game will 
probably be repeated until he either learns it per- 
fectly, or till his antagonist is unwilling longer to 
attempt learning him, and gives up the undertaking. 
Now as to the game of human life. Man com- 
mences his existence. The world is before him. 
He is endued with rational and moral powers, by 
the right exercise of which he may make himself 
finally a perfect, and therefore a happy being — ^by 
the perversion of which, a sinful and miserable one. 
If he takes the former course, that is, makes a correct 
more, he will be allowed to succeed — his character 
will be improved — he will be on the road to heaven. 
If he takes the latter, or makes a had mov^e, he will 
be counteracted and defeated by a move on the other 
side. He will meet with, some disappointment — some 
calamitous visitation, which though apparently arising 
out of the usual course of events, yet sent and de- 
signed to punish and correct him. Or perhaps, if 
not designed to punish him, as he may have erred 



45 



through Ignorance or inexperience, it will be intend- 
ed to instruct him and direct him into the right road, 
or perhaps be merely disciplinary^ to improve and 
perfect his nature. And these calamities and suffer- 
ings, which constitute part of the events of life, or 
the move which the Deity on his part makes, will 
be multiphed and repeated, until they effect their 
purpose in perfecting the character and fitting man 
for heaven, or till all prospect of this being effected 
has disappeared. Now it is evident in this view of 
the subject, there is no control exercised over hu* 
man conduct. The circumstances into which man 
may be thrown, it is true, may be ordered by the 
Deity. But how man shall act in regard to these 
circumstances, when they occur, is entirely within 
his own control. 

And to continue the preceding parallel of the 
game of chequers and human life, — as in the former 
case, the most skilful player will sometimes suffer 
his antagonist to succeed in many of his early moves, 
where it is in his power to take him up, w^ith a view 
to some scheme he has in his mind, which will de- 
velop itself in the end^ and probably give him the game 
—-so the Deity often allows men to carry into effect 
their wicked designs for a considerable period of 
time, instead of immediately baffling them, with a 
view to some beneficial consequences which shall 
incidentally accrue to the world from this course, and 
in order to make the final overthrow of the ungodly 



46 



the more tremendous and impressive, both as a pun- 
ishment to them and a lesson to mankind. Thus, 
while in fact God is not exercising any coercive in- 
fluence over the conduct of his creatures, he is still 
overruling it to be productive of as much good, 
both in its progress and issue^ as possible. This 
is the explanation to be given of the temporary suc- 
cess of wicked men, and of their unhallowed 
schemes. 

This superintending power, or, as perhaps it may 
be called. Superintending Providence^ is exerted, I 
believe, not merely over important instances of con- 
duct and great events, but over every transaction of 
life, and every movement we make — every word we 
utter and every thought we conceive, which can have 
any moral influence whatever : and such are all 
turned to some account, either for the benefit of 
ourselve^j or the rest of mankind, or both. Every 
thing which happens in the world whatever, is made 
in some way to subserve the Divine purpose, and 
this often when apparently it was directed to an en- 
tirely opposite end. So completely is hunian agency 
and conduct under the control of God, 



47 



FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND A SUPERINTENDING PROVI- 
DENCE,— CONTINUED. 

When the Deity created the world and placed 
man in it, and commanded him to be " fruitful and 
multiply, and replenish the earth," he must have had 
some plan in reference to these his works. This 
is both to be inferred from the belief that no intelli- 
gent being would undertake a task without having 
some end in view to be accomplished by it, and al- 
so from the nature which he has given man, as be- 
ing in itself capable of progress both in respect to 
moral and intellectual advancement. Taking for 
granted then, without other reasoning, that God had 
such a plan in his mind, it is evident that he must 
be able to foresee in some way what course he 
should pursue, in order to prosecute and accomplish 
this plan ; or in other words, what would be the 
conduct of his creatures, and what measures it would 
be necessary for him to pursue in reference to this 
conduct. Otherwise, it must be in itself a matter 
of uncertainty whether his intentions in regard to 
them would ever be reahsed, and instead of his 
purpose being effected in their gradual progress 
towards perfection, it might be entirely frustrated, 
and they become the slaves of sin and ignorance, 
instead of advancing in virtue and knowledge. For 
unless he could foresee the effect of his own con- 
duct in reference to their character, he would be 



48 

unable to determine whether it would be for their 
welfare or misery that they should have been creat- 
ed, — and be like a man who should put to sea 
without chart or compass, with whom it would be 
impossible to determine upon the probability of 
reaching the destined port. So that it is evident, 
that the government of the world, and the accom- 
plishment of his plan in the improvement of the 
nature and condition of mankind, require and pre- 
suppose the absolute foreknowledge of the Deity in 
regard to their conduct and all future events. 

The same train of reasoning will also prove the 
necessity of a Superintending Providence^ to regu- 
late the conduct of mankind, as far as can be done 
consistently with their moral freedom^ while this plan 
is in progress. For as mankind, if left to them- 
selves, might conduct in such a way, as to abuse 
their nature, make themselves miserable, and thus 
defeat the end of their being ; it is necessary that a 
constant guardianship should be exercised over them 
to prevent it. This is effected by the events of life, 
which are ordered and controlled by God, so as to 
operate as a discipline, a punishment, and a reward 
to them. 

The government of God in this respect may be 
fairly inferred from what would be the conduct of a 
wise and benevolent earthly parent towards his 
children, and may be best illustrated in this way. 
Such a father would not leave his children to pur- 



49 

sue whatever course they should choose, under the 
guidance of their own inexperience and undisci- 
plined passions, careless whether they should or 
should not attain to usefulness, honor, and virtue, 
and taking no pains to direct and keep them in the 
right way. But he would adapt his own conduct 
to what he should discover to be the habits and con- 
duct of his children, encouraging them when they 
were right, punishing and restraining them when 
they were wrong, and in every way possible afford- 
ing thfem all the means and opportunities for ac- 
quiring those characters which he was desirous they 
should possess. He would as much as possible keep 
from them temptations to vice, and an abuse of their 
time and talents, and offer every incentive which 
would be likely to make them virtuous and wise. 
He would give them all the advantages for a moral 
and intellectual education in his power, and adapt 
the whole course of his paternal government towards 
the great end of making them good and happy. If 
this would be the conduct of our parents on earth. 
why should we suppose a different course would be 
adopted by our Parent in Heaven ? Why should 
he allow his offspring to follow the bent of their own 
inclinations, however depraved they might have made 
them, and thus lead them finally to inevitable ruin ? 
Why should he let the events of the world take any 
course to which chance might direct them, giving 
himself no concern about their influence upon the 
5 



50 

character and conduct of creatures whom he has 
made capable of being the subjects of a moral 
government? Such a course would be no more 
wise nor benevolent in him, than in a human being. 
He, as well as the latter, must, in order to effect his 
purposes in the perfection and happiness of his chil- 
dren, pursue a similar course. He must accommo- 
date events in the moral and material world to their 
actions, let these be as varying as they may, and in 
this way be constantly exercising a Superintending 
Providence over them. There is no other mode 
discoverable by human reason, by which the govern- 
ment of the world can be carried on, and effect the 
desired result. 



THE DOCTRINE OF MOTIVES AND MOKAL LIBERTY. 

The inquiry how moral freedom can be compati- 
ble with the operation of motives upon the mind, 
has perplexed the most powerful intellects the world 
has produced. This, in other words, has been de- 
signated, the doctrine of Liberty and JVecessity. 
The apparent difficulty existing upon this subject 
will vanish entirely, I think, when it is thoroughly ex- 
amined. Man is endued with certain passions and 
affections, capable, by their exercise, of procuring him 
pleasure or pain. He is placed in a world where all 



51 

those passions and affections have their appropriate 
objects acting upon them. He has a power of dis- 
cerning in what way their exercise will be productive 
of permanent and substantial happiness, though it 
may be remote and future, and though in the first 
instance it may cost him much of suffering and 
self-denial, or of transient and brief gratification, 
followed ultimately by lasting disappointment and 
suffering. This power of discerning is the result 
of an observation of events, and the conduct of oth- 
ers and of our own personal experience. He is 
possessed of a will which is acted upon by his pas- 
sions and affections in reference to the circumstan- 
ces in which he may be placed, and subject to this 
power of discernment between ultimate good and 
evil. The circumstances in which he is placed, so 
far as affecting his happiness or misery, according 
to the use made of them, are the motives which are 
addressed to him, and which are to influence his 
conduct. This then is the manner in which the 
moral nature of man is composed, and put into ex- 
ercise. Now the difficulty suggested in regard to 
his being a/ree agent, or acting by necessity, may be 
thus stated. It is said, it is true, he acts with refer- 
ence to the circumstances in which he finds himself 
placed, and influenced by the motives which these 
circumstances present. But if he has no control 
over these circumstances, and must act as impelled 
by these motives, how can he be free ? 



52 

As it regards the circumstances^ it is evident it is 
of no consequence who is the author of them, 
whether the man himself or any higher being, pro- 
vided he is at hberty to act as he pleases in refer- 
ence to them. If I find myself in a situation where 
I can make my fortune by a particular undertaking, 
or fail to make it by neglecting it, and it is in my 
power to do one or the other, it is of no consequence 
how I came into this situation, as affecting my moral 
freedom. 

Next with respect to the motives. It is said, man 
must act as impelled by these and must act accord- 
ing to the strongest motives ; how then is he free ? 
It is true he must act from motives, because as a ra- 
tional and moral being, he is so constituted that he 
can be impelled to action in no other way. But if 
he can act in regard to these motives as he pleases, 
he is still free. And he can do this. In regard to 
every action he is called upon to perform or not, 
there are two distinct sets of motives ; one prompt- 
ing him to do it, and the other not to do it. That 
set of motives is essentially and in their nature the 
strongest, which promises him the greatest degree of 
good ultimately, from an obedience to them ; that 
is the weakest, which promises the least good ulti- 
mately. But it is obvious with this explanation, that 
it is not true, that man must act from the strongest 
motives. He may act from the weakest. And 
whether he will act from the one or the other must 



i 



53 

depend altogether upon his character and the degree 
of information he may exert himself to procure upon 
the subject, which character and information depend 
entirely upon himself: — Upon his character^ as hav- 
ing subjected all his passions and desires to the con- 
trol of reason or not ; upon his degree of informa- 
tion^ as having thoroughly examined the consequen- 
ces which will flow from the action, or not having 
done this. If he has formed a proper character and 
obtained thorough information, he will probably act 
from the strongest motives ; if he has neither or bu; 
one of these, he may act from the weaker. And it is 
this ability to act from either one or the other of 
these sets of motives, the stronger or the weaker, 
which makes him a free agent. That he may do 
this, is not only evident from the foregoing explana- 
tion, that different individuals would act differently 
in regard to the same set of motives, but from the 
fact that the same individual would at different peri- 
ods of his life act in an entirely different manner 
when placed in the same situation. 

To illustrate these remarks by a familiar exam- 
ple : — Suppose that an act should be passed by the 
government of the country, against the importation 
of a certain article into it, as being ruinous to its 
essential interests; and a heavy penalty attached to 
a violation of this law. This was the case with the 
article of tea during our revolution. Suppose an 
opportunity should occur when an individual might 
5* 



54 

probably succeed in smuggling the article into the 
country, and in this way make a large sum of mon- 
ey. Now the stronger set of motives would be 
against it. These are, that it would be a violation 
of the law of the land, with all the injurious conse- 
quences attending such a violation, — ^that it would be 
a crime both moral and civil, subjecting him certainly 
to the punishment of God, and, if discovered, of 
man, — that it might and probably would destroy 
his peace of mind and respectability in the world* 
The weaker set of motives would be in favor of it. 
By so doing, he would probably make himself rich, 
and in this way obtain all the advantages which rich- 
es give a man in the world. Now whether he would 
or would not engage in this enterprise of smuggling, 
or act from the stronger or weaker motives, would 
depend upon the character of the individual. If he 
was an intelligent and upright man, he would not. 
If he was an ignorant or dishonest man, he might 
do it. If he was a man who allowed himself to be 
the slave of his passions and propensities, he proba- 
bly would do it ; if he had them under a proper 
degree of moral subjection, he would not. If he 
was young and unthinking, he might do it ; if he 
was advanced in life and reflecting, he probably 
would not. 

So then we see that there is nothing in the doc- 
trine of motives^ much as it may have perplexed 
the intellects of philosophers, which is inconsistent 



55 

with moral liberty. But on the other hand, it is 
essential to this moral Hberty, and in fact proves its 
actual existence. 



CONSCIENCE AND INNATE PRINCIPLES. 

It has been the general behef, I apprehend, that 
Conscience and Reason are, in fact, the same prin- 
ciple of our nature, exerted in different ways ; and 
it is from the existence of such a notion, that 
much has been said about enlightening and cultivate 
ing the conscience. According to my apprehension, 
however, this belief is an erroneous one, — that in fact 
these two operations are in themselves two separate 
and independent pans of our constitution, and while 
it may with truth be said, that the Reason may be 
enlightened and cultivated, this cannot be affirmed 
of Conscience. The soundness of this doctrine, 
I think, may be made clearly to appear from the 
following considerations. 

The office of reason seems to be to furnish us 
with information, either respecting our duty or any 
thing else ; the office of conscience, to take cogni- 
zance of this information when it relates to dyty, 
and to make it the ground of its judgment upon our 
conduct ; according to which, it considers this con- 
duct either right or wrong, and as such approves or 



56 

condemns it. The province of Reason may extend 
either to knowledge respecting moral duty, or to 
that which is in itself merely intellectual, as mathe- 
matics or the abstract sciences. That of conscience 
can extend only to moral duty. To illustrate the 
office of these two powers in respect to the latter, 
I will select the vice of lying. Concerning this 
vice, it is well known that very different opinions are 
entertained, both as to what constitutes a lie, and 
also in what cases it is, or is not criminal — some con- 
tending that words false in themselves are not Hes, 
because there is no deception intended ; others that 
they are, notwithstanding this circumstance ; some 
also contending that under certain circumstances lies 
are justifiable ; others, that they are not under any 
supposable ones. — Now without entering at all into 
the discussion of these points here, it will be per- 
ceived that these are cases where the Reason of the 
different persons come to different results ; that is, 
where this faculty furnishes to different individuals 
different kinds of information respecting the same point. 
Now according to these different results, or different 
kinds of information, will be the judgment oi conscience 
respecting the particular action produced by them — 
in the one case approving the same action that it con- 
demns in another ; in one case giving satisfaction un- 
der the same circumstances, where in another it gives 
pain. And in the same way it operates in the case 
of the Hottentots, vA\oput to death all their infirm old 



i 



67 

men, — of the Spartans, who taught their children 
to steal J and of the Hindoos, who burn their wid- 
ows upon the pile of the deceased husband. Their 
reason furnished them with wrong information 
upon these subjects, for want of proper culti- 
vation, but their conscience approved their con- 
duct, because it was in conformity to the infor- 
mation they possessed, — because they did not un- 
derstand the nature of the evil consequences which 
flowed from this practice. In these cases con- 
science did its duty. But reason failed for want 
of a proper exercise, to furnish the necessary light. 
As an apt illustration of the appropriate functions 
of these two parts of our nature, I will compare them 
to the different branches which exist in the frame 
of ouv civil government, the Legislative, the Judicial, 
and the Executive. I will consider Reason to be 
the Legislative, and Conscience to combine in 
itself both the Judicial and the Executive. Now 
as in civil government, the Legislature make the 
laws, that is, prescribe the rules of action to govern 
the conduct of the citizen, so in the moraZ common- 
wealth, which every man finds within himself, the 
Reason, or the Legislative power, furnishes him with 
those rules of duty which are to govern his own 
conduct; and as in the former case, the Judicial 
and Executive powers take cognizance of these 
laws, and govern themselves by them, without re- 
gard to their merits, that is, their justice or injustice, 



58~ 



so Conscience, in the latter case, takes cognizance 
of these moral rules of duty, and frames its judg- 
ment according to them, without regard to their 
soundness or falsity ; in both cases, not creating the 
standard, but regulating their decisions, and execut- 
ing them according to it. 

Besides the foregoing reasoning to show that 
Reason and Conscience are distinct principles in 
themselves, there are other considerations in favor 
of this doctrine. We find that reason embraces not 
only subjects of knowledge, with which Conscience 
has nothing to do, viz. science merely intellectual^ 
as mathematics, &c. and where moral conduct is not 
affected ; but also that in respect to the former its 
sole province, the state of feeling which accompa- 
nies it, is altogether different from that which accom- 
panies the operations of Conscience. Is a man suc- 
cessful in the acquisition of speculative knowledge, 
he, it is true, realizes a satisfaction from it, — and is 
he perplexed and unable to comprehend the truths 
presented to him, he feels disappointed and uneasy ; 
but in neither case is it the kind of satisfaction or 
uneasiness of which he is conscious, when he per- 
forms or neglects to perform, what he considers his 
duty and which relate to it as such. It is not here 
a moral approbation or disapprobation, — his conr 
science not rewarding him with its smiles as an evi- 
dence of its sanction, nor punishing him whh its 
frowns, as having forfeited it, It is true^ that ^ven 



59 

an employment merely intellectual may be, and 
commonly is, productive of both these states of feel- 
ing, as there can perhaps be none where moral con- 
siderations have not their influence ; but what I mean 
is, that in such a case, these two states of feeling 
are different in themselves and flow from different 
sources. If these views, then, be correct, it would 
seem to strengthen the conclusion, that Reason and 
Conscience are distinct principles of the human 
constitution. 

I come now to what are called Innate Principles. 
By these I understand principles of conduct rm- 
planted in our very nature, which are supposed to 
exist in all mankind, which are not the result of 
any course of reasoning, but self-evident rules of ac- 
tion, that ^pow^cfweow^Zy suggest themselves, whenev- 
er the occasion for their influence calls for them. 

The fact of the existence of any such principles 
I think is contradicted by two considerations ; owe, 
the different notions w^hich have prevailed at difle- 
rent periods of the world and among different na- 
tions in regard to the same practice, as being crimi- 
nal or not ; and the other^ the change which often- 
times takes place in the opinions of the individual 
himself in the course of his life in regard to the 
character of an action. The former may be illus- 
trated by the different views which prevailed for- 
merly and at the present time upon the subject 
of the slave trade, and also by the conduct of the 



60 

Hottentots and Spartans before noticed ; and the 
latter, by our own experience and the information 
we derive from others. 

Now if there were any such thing as these In- 
nate Principles^ they must exist in every individual 
at every period of time ; must apply to every com- 
bination of circumstances in which human nature 
can be placed ; and must be an unerring and iwi- 
mediate guide whenever their influence is requir- 
ed. For the fact of, being innate, presupposes all 
these circumstances, as we cannot conceive of an 
innate principle confined to a portion of the human 
race ; relating to a part only of our moral conduct, 
and leaving the rest uncertain, or shedding a doubt- 
ful, varying, or tardy light upon the subjects of it. 
And the fact, that we find that we are not possessed 
of any principles operating in all these ways, proves, 
that they do not exist. Different individuals have 
different views respecting the same duty, and the same 
individual at different periods of his life, — new com- 
binations of circumstances often occur, w^hen men are 
a long time doubtful how they ought to conduct, — 
and the decision, finally, is often the result of a long 
and patient course of reasoning upon the subject, 
and this in direct opposition to first impressions. 
Surely these are any thing but the characteristics of 
innate principles. 

Another consideration opposed to this doctrine is, 
that children, before their minds are enlightened, do 



61 

things which they would not do afterwards, and 
merely because they are ignorant that there is any 
thing improper in so doing. A child, before it is 
instructed to the contrary, would take an apple, or 
any thing else which might be in its way, not know- 
ing at all the nature of property or the nature of 
theft. But if it had within itself any innate princi- 
ples respecting this crime, they would begin to show 
themselves as soon as the occasion for their exer- 
cise should arrive. As soon as the desires they 
were intended to restrain should be developed, the 
principles themselves would suggest themselves. 

What are called innate principles are probably 
nothing more than rules of duty we have ac- 
quired by instruction or example, the circumstances 
attending which have entirely passed from our 
minds, — and the reasoning which supported them, 
though it may originally have fixed them in our 
minds, not necessarily, nor commonly occurring, 
when the rules themselves are brought into opera- 
tion. 

The preceding remarks upon Conscience and 
Innate Principles, show that there is such a thing 
as an involuntary ignorance of duty ; that is, where 
the reason, for want of cultivation, fails to afford the 
necessary information upon which to proceed, and 
this, without any blame or negligence to be imputed 
to the persons suffering from this ignorance, but 
solely for want of the opportunity and means of en- 
6 



62 

lightening the reason. And they further prove, 
that it becomes the duty of those, who have made 
greater progress in the improvement of this faculty, 
to use their exertions to extend this improvement to 
others, and to consider themselves as instruments 
under God himself for this purpose, agreeably to 
the plan of his government, by which the welfare 
and improvement of the human race is made neces- 
sarily to depend upon one another as well as them- 
selves. 



CONSCIENCE, PROOF OF MORAL LIBERTY. 

The operations of the principle of our nature 
called conscience^ just considered, appear to me of 
itself to prove conclusively the moral freedom of 
man, without entering into any other considerations 
for this purpose. Conscience^ (agreeably to the 
reasoning in the preceding article,) I should define 
to be a power which passes judgment upon our ac- 
tions, as being right or wrong, good or bad, and 
punishes us with its condemnation, or rewards us 
with its approval, according as these are, or are not, 
conformed to the moral standard which is created 
by our Reason. In this view of it then it is evident, 
that it implies both a knowledge of our duty, and an 
ability to perform it — and when it gives us its ap- 
probation, it is because we have exercised this ablli- 



63 

ty in conformity to this knowledge^ and when it 
punishes us with its disapprobation, it is because 
we have neglected, or refused, to exercise it in 
this way. Instances where a knowledge of duty 
was necessarily wanting, and so where the con- 
science would fail to punish conduct proceeding 
from this involuntary ignorance, were given in the 
last article, as in the case of the Hottentots and 
Spartans, he. I will proceed now to consider, 
therefore, cases, where the ability to do our duty is 
called in question. 

Supposing then mankind in any way under the 
control of an extraneous influence, compelhng them 
to certain actions, as some have contended ; it is 
clear, that conscience could neither decide them to be 
right nor wrong, could neither reward nor punish 
them, since by the supposition, they would be want- 
ing in the ability of acting in a different manner, even 
if they could have ^perception that such manner was 
right. All our actions would be as much beyond our 
control, as those which are now called unintentional , 
and we should be no more accountable for the for- 
mer than the latter. Should a person inflict an injury 
upon another in a way termed accidental, as by dis- 
charging a fowling piece at a bird and hitting a man, 
who might be concealed by the trees, although the 
circumstance would be a source of very great re- 
gret to him, he could in no way reproach himself 
for it, since he had not a knowledge that the person 



64 

injured was there, and so not an ability to avoid it. 
His conscience would not therefore punish him for 
it. Or if one ran against me and pushed me 
against a third, and in this way the last should re- 
ceive any hurt, although I should be very sorry for 
it, I should not consider myself culpable, since I 
was impelled by a superior force, which I could not 
withstand, and the injury occasioned would, as re- 
spects me, be involuntary. I should not blame my- 
self, or, in other words, feel the compunctions of 
conscience, for this circumstance. So would it be 
with all our conduct, if we were under the domin- 
ion of any thing like necessity in respect to it. It 
would at once occur to us, that we could not have 
avoided acting as we have done, and we should no 
more pass censure upon ourselves in respect to it, 
than we should for the injury we might sustain in 
running against a post, or falling into a hole in the 
night, of which we were entirely ignorant. It 
therefore involves a perfect absurdity, to say that a 
man may be made the creature of necessity, or have 
his actions inevitably controlled by a superior power, 
and still may be under the dominion of a power 
called conscience, since the latter presupposes, in its 
very nature, freedom of action, and could not exist 
without it, — and is nothing more nor less, than a con- 
sciousness that he might have conducted in the way 
he did, or differently. If he could not have helped 
doing as he has done, why does he blame himself, 



65 

why does he experience any of what are called the 
stings of conscience, or remorse. The very fact of 
experiencing this remorse, proves his own conscious- 
ness that he could have acted differently, and it is 
the blame he casts upon himself, because he did not. 
This view then of conscience proving the moral 
freedom of man, and other reasoning upon the fore- 
knowledge of God proving not only its existence, 
but the absolute necessity that it should exist, for 
the government of the world, and the progressive 
advancement of his rational creatures towards per- 
fection, it follows that these two doctrines must be 
reconcilable with each other, though the manner in 
which the Deity maybe able to foresee actions which 
are in themselves contingent and free, and over which 
he exercises no compulsory influence, may be a 
mystery to us, as indeed the nature, extent, and ope- 
ration of all his attributes in a great degree are. 
We can form no conception of Omnipresence ex- 
tending to a universe without limits, or of Omnipo- 
tence commensurate with the former. Why then 
should we expect to be able to understand the na- 
ture of his Omniscience, or of his Prescience, as 
being a part of this, and flowing from it. All we 
can be assured of, is the actual existence of these 
attributes as proved by the evidence of reason in 
conjunction mih faith ; but the 7node of their exer- 
cise is at the present time beyond our comprehen* 
sion. 

6^ 



66 



DOCTRINE OF FOREORDINATION. 

Having, in a former article, explained in what 
mdiimeY foreknowledge on the part of the Deity was 
consistent with moral liberty on the part of man, I 
come now to the docrine of foreordinaiion. 

By foreordination is meant the bringing to pass 
all the results desired, in the progress of events, 
sofas as they are in accordance with the system of 
government God has framed, and exercises over the 
universe; which system embraces moral freedom on 
the part of man, and a superintending 'providence 
on the part of Deity. In this sense it is the neces- 
sary consequence of his foreknowledge, and not the 
cause of it, as has been generally supposed. The 
Deity did not, from the beginning of time, decree 
that certain events should take place, and that his 
creatures should act in a certain way in reference 
to them, making them mere machines in accom- 
plishing his purposes. But he foresaw what would 
be their conduct in relation to the events which he 
should order, and what course it would be necessa- 
ry for him to pursue, to assist or counteract this 
conduct, as it might, or might not, be conformable 
to his will. He first determined upon the wisest 
plan by which he should govern his moral creation, 
and then determined to regulate his own proceed- 
ings by this plan. He did not arbitrarily deter- 
mine that he would accomplish certain purposes at 



67 

all events, whatever measures should be required, 
and even though they should go to infringe or des- 
troy the moral liberty of his creatures ; but he de- 
termined to accompHsh such purposes only as should 
be consistent with his own plan Jirst laid down, and 
should in the progress of events develope themselves. 
In other words, he bound himself by the system of 
government he prescribed to himself, and cannot 
deviate from it without impeaching his own charac- 
ter and attributes. For as this system is the best, 
which infinite wisdom, power, and benevolence could 
conceive and execute, it would be in derogation of 
this wisdom, power, and goodness, were he to de- 
part from it. And this view of the subject is no 
more a limitation of the power of the Deity in the 
moral universe, than it would be in the natural one 
to say that he could not make two hills without a 
valley intervening between them. For, as, in the 
latter case, it is a physical contradiction, and only a 
declaration of the impossibility of a thing existing 
and not existing at the same time ; so in the former, 
it is a moral contradiction, and only a declaration 
of the impossibility that he should, and should not 
proceed, according to a certain plan, at the same 
time. 

This explanation of the doctrine o( foreordina' 
tion^ and that it is the consequence and not the cause 
of foreknowledge, is strictly in accordance with 
scripture. Thus in Acts ii. 23, " Him being deliv- 



68 

ered by the determinate counsel dinA foreknowledge of 
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have 
crucified and slain." Determinate council^ because 
of the foreknowledge^ and not vice versa. Again, 
Romans viii. 29. " For whom he AiiA foreknow^ he 
also diiA predestinate to be conformed," &:c. Here 
the predestination is mentioned as the consequence of 
the foreknowledge, \i follows it, and does noipre- 
cede it. — Again, Romans xi. 2. " God hath not cast 
away his people whom he foreknew." He hath not 
cast them away, because he foreknew he should not 
cast them away. Or, in other words, because he 
foreknew they would not conduct in such a manner, 
as to make it necessary that he should cast them 
away. — So too, 1 Peter i. 2. " Elect according to 
the foreknowledge of God the Father." Electa be- 
cause God foreknew or foresaw^ that they would 
render themselves worthy to be elected. And this 
is the only rational, and of course the only scriptu- 
ral notion of the doctrine of election. Whether a 
man be one of the electa will depend altogether up- 
on himself, although the fact whether he will or will 
not make himself so, is foreknown by the Deity. 

And agreeably to this explanation of the plan of 
government pursued by the Deity, in adapting his 
own conduct to that of his creatures — may all his 
proceedings be accounted for, in which he is said in 
Scripture to have caused certain actions to be done, 
which very actions were made the objects of his 



69 

displeasure and punishment. As in the case of the 
plagues which he sent upon Pharaoh and the Egyp- 
tians, because they would not let Moses and the 
children of Israel go out of Egypt ; — it is said, that 
the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would 
not let them go. But all that is here meant, 
without doubt, is, that he suffered Pharaoh's heart to 
continue hardened, that is, that he did not exert an 
irresistible force at once to subdue his obstinacy and 
compel him to let them go, — but permitted him to 
act according to his own pleasure for a certain length 
of time, subjecting him to repeated punishments, 
which, not effecting the desired object, he and his 
host were finally overwhelmed in the Red Sea. In 
this way the government of God was vindicated, 
and an impressive lesson of his superintending 
Providence was taught the children of Israel, by 
their own signal deliverance and the destruction of 
their enemies. — This explanation will, I apprehend, 
apply to all the events related in the Bible of a sim- 
ilar kind. 



PROPHECY IN GENERAL,— AND THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS. 

In former articles, I have shown, that the fore- 
knowledge of the Deity is perfectly consistent with 
the moral liberty of his creatures, and that foreor- 
dination is the consequence of this foreknowledge. 



70 

in the manner therein explained. I come now to 
the subject of Prophecies. It follows, as a matter 
of course, that any being who foreknows what train 
of events will happen at any future time, however 
distant, may declare the fact that they will happen, 
at any period anterior to their occurrence. This 
declaration^ is prophecy or prediction, and may be 
made by the agency of men divinely inspired for 
that purpose, or in any other way which it may please 
the Deity to adopt. These prophecies have been 
made at different periods of the world, for the pur- 
pose either of furnishing additional attestation of the 
truth of some revelation, which was to be accompa- 
nied by their fulfilment ; or as affording evidence of 
the general and constant superintendence of Provi- 
dence over the universe, since nothing can happen 
without the divine permission. 

Prophecies, from their very nature^ must be 
either unknown to the persons who are to assist by 
their agency in their fulfilment, — or, i/" known to them, 
be clothed in such language as to leave it a matter 
of ignorance how they are to be fulfilled, and that 
themselves are to be instrumental in fulfilling them. 
It follows then, that it is a matter of utter impossi- 
biUty for any one to discover in any way, before- 
hand^ how they are to be fulfilled, and that the ful- 
filment itself can be the only way of explaining the 
prophecy. The accuracy of these remarks will 
appear from the following considerations. 



71 

The fulfilment of prophecies is effected by the 
moral actions of men, no less than any other trans- 
actions in which they may be concerned — by actions 
for which they are held accountable, and made the 
subjects of reward or punishment. Now if the 
manner in which prophecies were to be fulfilled was 
to be known previously by those who should take a 
part in their fulfilment, it would destroy altogether 
their free agency in regard to them, and of course 
their accountability. For they would either consid- 
er themselves as under a Divine injunction from the 
prophecies themselves, to pursue that course which 
would effect their fulfilment, and so instead of in- 
curring any guilt from their conduct, be in fact 
serving God and executing his commands — or else 
omit altogether to take those steps which the fulfil- 
ment of them required, from the apprehension of 
committing a crime, and incurring the punishment 
consequent upon it ; and in this case the prophecy 
would either not be fulfilled, or they must be com- 
pelled by some irresistible influence to assist in its 
fulfilment, and so, nothe free agents, and of course 
not subject to reward or punishment for their conduct. 
And the foregoing views of this subject do not at 
all militate with the benevolence of the Deity, or 
the moral Hberty of his creatures. It is not neces- 
sary for the purpose to be effected by the fulfilment 
of any prophecy, that the manner of its fulfilment 
should be known beforehand. Its purpose is effect- 



72 

ed by its fulfilment^ and not by the manner of its 
fulfilment being known previously. And so long as 
the Deity does not exercise any compulsory force 
over his creatures, in obliging them to pursue that 
conduct, which will tend to the fulfilment, their ig- 
norance of the fact, that they are actually employed 
at the time in fulfilhng a prophecy made by him, 
does not at all destroy their free agency in regard 
to it. That he does not exercise this compulsory 
force, I have shown in former communications, in 
explaining the perfect consistency and harmony ex- 
isting between the attributes of foreknowledge and 
foreordination on his part, and moral liberty on the 
part of man. 

From the preceding remarks, it will be clearly 
understood why it is, that prophecies are clothed in 
language so highly metaphorical and ambiguous, and 
how perfectly vain it is, to attempt an interpretation 
of them by giving them a perfectly literal, or indeed 
any construction anterior to their fulfilment. — That 
they were not intended to be understood beforehand, 
is evident, as well from the very fact of this kind of 
language being used, as from the foregoing consid- 
erations — for there is no reason for such language 
being employed, except purposely to conceal the 
manner of their fulfilment, until it had taken place. 

To illustrate the foregoing reasoning, suppose the 
prophecies relating to Jesus Christ in the Old Tes- 
tament had been clothed in such language as clearly 



73 

to designate him beyond all manner of doubt, as 
soon as he should make his appearance among the 
Jews. It is perfectly evident, that neither he nor 
they could have sustained their respective char- 
acters in the events of that period. If the prophe- 
cies relating to him had been so explicit and precise 
as to convince them without the exercise of any 
reasoning, that he was their promised Saviour, to 
fulfil them, they would either have considered them- 
selves as directed by heaven to persecute and cruci- 
fy him, by the prophecies themselves, and so, instead 
of being the objects of Divine wrath for so doing, 
to be in fact discharging their duty, and the objects 
of Divine complacency — or else they must have 
been operated upon by some other supernatural 
force for this purpose, and so lose their free agency 
and of consequence, not be the subjects of reward 
or punishment. And in either case, the effect of his 
conduct and his sufferings would have lost their 
chief efficacy, since, instead of their being a return 
of good for evil, forgiveness for injury, and benevo- 
lence for cruelty, he would be merely submitting to a 
fate, in which both he and his enemies were alike act- 
ed upon by some kind of supernatural influence, which 
they could neither control nor resist. Both would 
have been mere machines^ acting the part assigned 
to them, and so neither meritorious nor criminal. 

This, however, is altogether different from the 
fact. Both parties were moral agents, acting ac- 
7 



74 



cording to their own will and pleasure, though at 
the same time fulfilling the designs of heaven, as 
contained in the prophecies concerning them. And 
the one was punished, and the other rewarded, as 
having conducted in a manner, to deserve the one 
and the other recompense. 

It has been urged as an argument against the 
genuineness of the book, of " Revelations " con- 
tained in the New Testament, not only that it is in a 
very remarkable degree metaphorical^ but also that 
the authorship of it is not by many considered as 
well determined. — It may be thought by some, if 
this were in fact a revelation containing a prophecy 
of future events, the evidence of its authorship 
would be of so clear and satisfactory a nature, as to 
leave no doubt upon the mind about this fact ; that 
it would be as strong and decisive, as jhat which 
supports any other part of the New Testament. 
But it seems to me that such a supposition is not in 
itself well founded. A revelation which contains 
a system of faith to be embraced, and a rule of 
conduct to be followed, must necessarily be sup- 
ported by such a weight of evidence, as, upon prop- 
er examination, will gain for it the immediate adop* 
tion of those, for whose direction it is made. But 
with one containing only prophecies to be fulfilled at 
a future time, there is no necessity that the book 
containing them should be supported by the same 
kind of evidence. It is sufficient for all the pur- 



75 

poses to be accomplished by them, that they should 
compose a part of the Sacred Writ, so as to be 
promulgated to the world, and be believed, if genu- 
ine, to coutddn R prophecy . The fulfilment of these 
prophecies, whenever it takes place, will prove their 
Divine origin, and this is the only kind of evidence 
upon which it is necessary they should rest. The 
object intended by them is completely accomphshed 
in this way, viz. to convince mankind that it was, as 
it purported to be, a prophecy, and that it is receiv- 
ing its fulfilment. 



SECOND CAUSES. 



It has been a commonly received opinion, that 
the operations of nature, or the inanimate world, are 
carried on by the agency of second causes. A sys- 
tem of laws, it has been supposed by some, was 
framed at the creation of the world, to which all 
these operations were. uniformly and steadily to con- 
form, and that they were then left entirely to the 
influence of these laws, with which the Deity did 
not allow himself afterwards to interfere. This 
opinion I consider to be altogether unsound. It is 
derogatory to the great attributes of his nature, 
Omnipotence and Omnipresence, to suppose that it 
was necessary for him to resign the control of his 
own works to any other agency whatever, and in fact 



76 

making him not capable, at one and the same time, 
of attending to and regulating the concerns of the 
whole material universe, — but obliged to commit 
them to the disposal of subordinate influences. It 
is ascribing to him human imperfection and weak- 
ness, which can only do one thing at one time, and 
be in one place at one moment. 

The opinion is absurd too, when the nature of 
matter itself is considered. Laws can be made to 
operate only upon those subjects, which are able to 
recognize them, and be governed by them, that is, 
only upon intelligent and rational beings, — and we 
might as well expect that a Statute Book in human 
government would of itself execute the laws con- 
tained in it, without the intervention of human agen- 
cy for this purpose, as that laws should be made to 
affect the operations of 7natter^ which can neither 
recognise them nor govern itself by them. And as 
in the former case, intelligent beings are absolutely 
necessary at all times for the enforcement of the 
laws, so in the latter, an intelligent being, or some 
power external to matter itself, who shall both make 
and constantly execute the laws in regard to it, is 
also indispensable. Whenever therefore a certain 
effect is produced upon a single body, or by the ac- 
tion of one body upon another, it must be by 
some agent foreign to both. Take, as an example, 
a stone thrown into the air, which it is said will de- 
scend to the earth in a certain manner, viz. with a 



77 

velocity in the inverse ratio of the square of the dis- 
tances from the earth. Now it is clear that the 
stone can know nothing about this law. When 
therefore it descends, it must be acted upon by 
something foreign to itself. This is said to be the 
attraction of the earth itself upon the stone. But 
the earth itself can certainly know no such law. 
It must therefore be under the influence of some 
other power in exerting this attractive force. 

But according to our notions of matter, it can act 
only, even if it were capable of recognising a law, in 
the place where it is, and not beyond it, that is, only 
while it is in contact with the thing, upon which it 
acts. How then can the earth act upon a body at a 
distance from it ? It will be said by the attraction of 
gravitation. But what is this attraction of gravita- 
tion ? Is it any thing which issues from the earth 
itself, and extends throughout the atmosphere, reach- 
ing every thing coming within its sphere ? This 
idea is absurd on the face of it. How then is a 
body at a distance from it brought within its influ- 
ence ? In no conceivable way upon this hypothe- 
sis. Besides, if the attraction existed in the earth 
acting upon the body, how could it act according 
to the law stated ? How could it regulate the ve- 
locity of the descending stone according to the in- 
verse ratio of the square of the distances, as it ap- 
proached the earth ? If it acted with more force 
nearer the earth than at a distance from it, it would 
7^ 



78 

follow, that a stone thrown forty feet into the air would 
descend with as much velocity through these forty 
feet, as one thrown eighty feet through the last forty. 
But this is not the fact. The latter will descend 
with much more rapidity than the former. 

So in regard to motion itself ; what is it which 
keeps a body moving after it has left the body which 
first impelled it ? The impulse certainly could con- 
tinue only while in contact with the latter. It must 
be a cause foreign to any thing visible to us. — So in 
regard to the Heavenly bodies; what is it which keeps 
them moving their ceaseless rounds ? It will be said 
the influence of the centripetal and centrifugal 
forces. But how can the former operate any more 
than the attraction of gravitation, before considered ; 
and as to the latter, which it will be said was com- 
municated when they were first launched forth into 
space, how is this motion continued, after they have 
left the hand which hurled them forth ? So, too, with 
regard to the tides^ which are said to be affected by 
the influence of the moon ; how is this influence ex- 
erted and carried so far beyond the body exerting 
it ? It will be said, by the attraction of the moon 
acting upon the ocean. But this is no more an 
explanation in this, than in the preceding cases. 
The same remarks may also be applied to the at^ 
traction which is said to exist in certain material 
substances for lightnings or what is called the 
electric fluids which substances are called conduc- 



79 

tors — There must, I conceive, be in all these cases 
an external energy constantly operating upon them. 

Again, what is it makes the parts of bodies co- 
here together ? It will be said, the attraction of co- 
hesion. But what is this attraction ? It is some- 
thing altogether incomprehensible by us. The 
phenomenon can only be explained by the opera- 
tion of some external cause. What is it which pro- 
duces the phenomenon of magnetism ? Why does 
the loadstone attract iron with which it is not in 
contact^ and why does the magnetic needle always 
point towards the north pole ? It will be said, an 
attraction in the loadstone in the former case, and 
in the north pole in the latter. But what is this at- 
traction which operates beyond the body attracting, 
and in the case of the magnetic needle at such an im- 
mense distance from the supposed attracting body ? 
It can plainly be nothing in the attracting body, for 
reasons before given, but must be produced by 
some agent extraneous to both. 

So with electricity, chemistry, and indeed every 
branch of natural philosophy, all the assigned causes 
are inadequate to the effects produced. They are 
in truth merely a statement of the /ac^ in ano^Ac?- 
form of expression^ and no explanation of the phe- 
nomenon itself. 

It results then from the foregoing remarks, that 
what are called laws of nature and second causes, 
are merely the mode in which their Great Atithor 



80 

has chosen to regulate the operations of his materi- 
al works ; that he does in fact exercise an immedi- 
ate energy in producing every effect to which they 
are subject. This succession of apparent cause and 
effect, following each oxhex or dinar ily'ia a regular and 
uniform manner, is, because this regularity and uni- 
formity are alone adapted to the system he has es- 
tabhshed — not because there is any connexion strict- 
ly between these causes and effects. They are 
merely in fact coincidences^ though coincidences 
which always take place, because it is part of his 
plan that they always should take place. 



SUPERINTENDING PROVIDENCE AS IT RESPECTS MATERIAL 
PHENOMENA— AND ACCIDENT OR CHANCE, (SO CALLED.) 

I HAVE explained, in a former article, this subject, 
in reference to the moral actions of men, and the 
moral events of hfe. There is, however, another 
class of events, which arise out of the phenomena 
of the material universe, which at first sight appear 
to present some difficulties ; but these I think will 
cease to exist upon a proper consideration of them. 
They arise, I conceive, entirely from a mistaken 
notion of what are called general laws of matter 
and second causes ; in supposing the Deity has com- 
mitted his works to the influence of these, as an 
established system operating in and of itself without 



81 

his direct interposition or agency, — instead of being 
but the mere modes in which he has seen fit to per- 
form his operations, in which operations he exerts 
an immediate and personal agency. I have ex- 
plained my ideas upon this subject in the preceding 
article under the head of ^'Second Causes. ^^ 

Taking the explanation there given, then, as a sat- 
isfactory one, I will proceed to consider some of 
these phenomena or occurrences in the material 
world, in reference to the subject under considera- 
tion. For example, supposing a person to be pass- 
ing under a precipice, and a stone falls and kills 
him ; or that one directs a musket at another, and 
the flint misses fire, or something at that moment 
causes his arm to swerve from his aim ; or a plank 
comes floating down, towards a person who is in 
danger of drowning, and he is enabled to save him- 
self by it ; or one is struck by lightning ; or a 
house be destroyed by Jire ; how, it is asked, can 
these occurrences be the interposition of a superin- 
tending providence for the purpose ? Now upon the 
supposition of the immediate agency of the Deity in 
all material phenomena, there is no difficulty at all 
in explaining it. For in the first example^ if there be 
no such thing in fact as the attraction of gravitation^ 
but the stone, whenever it falls, must fall by the 
immediate agency of the Deity, it follows that he 
can omit to exercise the power necessary to impel 
it downwards, or the earth upon which it rests, until 



82 

the person comes under it, so that it may fall upon 
Him. So of the musket^ he can omit to communi- 
cate the spark to the flint, when it is struck against 
the pan ; or he can cause something to affect the 
arm of the person aiming it, at that moment. In the 
case of the plank floating down^ he can give a 
direction to the waves to carry it where he pleases 
and when he pleases ; and in the case of a house 
taking fire, or a man being struck by hghtning, as his 
immediate agency is necessary in both of these phe- 
nomena, he can determine when he will exert this 
agency for the purpose. Now in all these cases the 
moral liberty of man is not at all infringed in order to 
produce these effects. If he had not of his own 
accord placed himself in these several situations, the 
occurrences mentioned would not have taken place. 
And if he had not so placed himself, and the Deity had 
wished to deprive him of life, or save him when app a- 
rently threatened with some other danger, he would 
have resorted to some other method for this pur- 
pose. The Deity accommodates his operations in 
the material world, as well as in the moral, to the 
exigency of the circumstances, and it is not neces- 
sary for him to control the conduct of his rational 
creatures in order to accomplish such purposes, as 
their conduct has made necessary. His plans are 
predicated upon the actions of men as foreseen^ but 
not as produced by him ; and are perfectly consist- 
<ent with a free and rnoral nature on their part, 



83 

Neither can God be charged with cruelty in depriv- 
ing one of his creatures of life in any one of these 
sudden and violent ways, any more than by sickness 
or in other manner. He has a perfect right to take 
away life in any way he pleases ; and from his per- 
fect wisdom and goodness, he is the best judge in 
what way, all things considered^ it will be the most 
expedient to do it. This remark will also apply to 
all cases, where persons are destroyed by the voU 
untary act of another, whether criminal or not. 
God has a right to withhold his protecting hand to 
save them from such a fate, if he chooses ; and this 
without in any degree affecting the guilt of the per- 
son committing the deed. 

If there are in fact no such things then diS general 
laws and second causes, but that these are merely 
modes of the Divine operations, as I conceive has 
been satisfactorily shown, it will follow of course, that 
there cannot in the nature of things be what is 
termed accident, or chance. By these terms I un- 
derstand to be commonly meant, something happen- 
ing without the agency of any known will to pro- 
duce them ; and where this will is supposed to relate 
only to a rational or a hrute animal. Thus if a 
man should fall upon another by the overturning of 
a stage-coach, and severely injure him, it would be 
called accidental ; but if he should strike him and 
knock out one or more of his teeth, it would be 
called intentional. So if a horse should tread upon 



84 

one who had carelessly put himself in his way, it 
would be called accidental. If the horse kicked 
hini; it would not properly be considered accidental^ 
even as the term is commonly understood. So, too, 
if a man should be bruised by the falling of a brick 
from a house, or by falling down a precipice, where 
neither the agency of man nor brute was employed 
in any way, it would be termed accidental. So, too, 
if a house were to take fire in any way, where no 
human agency was intentionally employed for this 
purpose, it would be termed accidental, and vice 
versa. Now I conceive that in all these cases, as 
well where they have been called accidental, as 
where they have not, when they come to be tested 
by the explanation which has been given of general 
laws and second causes, they will be found, in no in- 
stance whatever, to be accidental in fact, though they 
may be called so, to distinguish them from cases 
where the intervention of some known will, either 
human or brute, is employed in producing them. 
Thus in the case of a man being injured by another 
by the overturning of a stage-coach, if there be in 
fact no such thing as the attraction of gravitation 
operating in and of itself, but that this is a mere 
mode of operation in which God himself employs 
his immediate and personal agency, it will follow of 
course, that this agency must be exerted to bring 
the coach to the ground. — So if a horse treads upon 
a person, the action of his muscles, by which he 



85 

brings his foot to the gtound being but a mode of 
operation and not in fact caused by any mechanical 
powers acting in and of themselves^ it will follow too 
that the Divine agency must be immediately em- 
ployed in producing this effect. So where a person 
is injured by the falling of a brick from a house, or 
falling down a precipice, there being no such thing 
as the attraction of gravitation in fact, the circum* 
stance is to be explained in the same way with the 
preceding examples. So too^ where a house takes 
fire accidentally, (as it is called,) if the chemical 
process, by which fire is produced, is but a mere mode 
of operation, and God hfmself actually communi- 
cates the spark, it will follow, that in this case. Di- 
vine agency is immediately employed to produce 
this phenomenon. And the circumstance that men 
are found depraved enough sometimes to set fire to 
buildings, and are accounted criminal for so doing, 
does not militate with this explanation, by making 
God the author of sin. For he has a right, as the 
author and governor of all things, to determine 
when it is expedient, all things considered, to de- 
stroy any part of his works ; and to allow his crea- 
tures to carry into effect their had. designs for this 
purpose, without exerting any influence to produce 
these designs on his part. If they had not formed 
these designs, God would probably have taken other 
measures to produce the same effect, if he had seen 
fit that it should take place. The incendiaries are, 
8 



66 

notwithstanding, equally guilty, as if they alone were 
the authors of the destruction, because, as it re- 
spects them, they have no right to destroy the 
property of their fellow beings, and are justly 
accountable for so doing. 

From the foregoing explanation, it will follow, 
that what is called chance in the drawing of a lot' 
tery or the throwing of dice, is not so in fact, since 
the very phenomenon of the numbers he. in the for- 
mer case, and of the dice in the latter, falling in one 
direction rather than in another, is not in fact caus- 
ed by the attraction of gravitation, but by the 
Divine energy itself. In the same way every phe- 
nomenon in the material world may be explained, 
to be caused by God himself, and in no instance to 
be the effect of chance or accident, strictly so called. 



PHRENOLOGY AND PHYSIOGNOMY. 

The system of Spurzheim, that the cavity of the 
skull is divided into a certain number of portions, 
which are occupied by organs of the brain, upon 
the organization and action of each of which de- 
pends the exercise of the particular passion or fac- 
ulty which it denotes, is so evidently absurd in itself, 
and unsupported even by external indications, that 
it scarcely deserves a serious examination. It has 
been urged against it, that it would necessarily lead 



87 

to the doctrine of Materialism ; that is, that the op- 
erations of mind are produced altogether by the 
organization of matter, viz. the brain, and of course 
that there is no such substance existing as spirit. 
It would not, however, I conceive, lead to this con- 
clusion any more than the theory that the brain it- 
self is employed in some way or other as a medium 
in producing the processes of thought, which I pre- 
sume will generally be admitted, even by those who 
contend that the soul is in itself a spiritual substance. 
For we can as well conceive of the brain divided 
into distinct portions, each of which is employed by 
the mind acting upon it, in producing its appropri- 
ate operation, as that the whole brain should be 
employed in different ways for this purpose. For 
instance, we can as well conceive of the brain divid- 
ed into distinct portions, each of which should con- 
tain that particular material organization, which, 
when acted upon by the mind or pure spirit, should 
produce those intellectual operations, that are called 
Memory, Imagination, Reason, he. — -or those moral 
ones, that are called Generosity, Gratitude, Love, 
Hatred, Revenge, Guilt, and Fear, &;c., as that the 
whole brain should consist of but one entire system 
of organization, which when acted upon in different 
ways, by the mind, or this pure spirit, should pro- 
duce these different intellectual and moral opera- 
tions. So that I conceive Materialism would not 
necessarily be the result of this system. 



88 

But the system of Spurzheim would lead inevita- 
bly to a doctrine much more pernicious in itself, 
and much worse in its consequences than Material- 
ism, and that is, to Fatalism^ or the doctrine of JVe- 
cessiiy or Predestination in its worst sense. For if 
the character and conduct of the individual is to 
depend upon the extent^ to which these organs of the 
brain, denoting different intellectual and moral ope- 
rations, are developed^ it will follow necessarily^ that 
every man's character is made for him, and deter- 
mined beforehand by this conformation. And that 
all he can do, is to act agreeably to these internal and 
external indications. For if it be said, he is still pos- 
sessed of a power by which he can control the im- 
pulse of these organs, I answer, for what were they 
given to mankind in such unequal proportions, un- 
less it were to obhge them to pursue a course of con- 
duct conformable to them P-^^and if they could con- 
trol them, and thus prevent them from performing 
their appropriate offices, it would follow, that when 
controlled in this way they would no longer be indi- 
cations of the passions or operations supposed, since 
these passions &£C. would be suppressed. So that 
the system itself would in this case entirely fail. 
This doctrine therefore being in itself destructive 
oi free-agency must be false. 

The doctrine of Physiognomy is in itself much 
more rational^ and perfectly consistent with moral 
liberty. It is well known that the face does, and is 



89 

intended to express the moral operations, that is, the 
feelings and emotions of the soul, and that these have 
all of them their appropriate indication to denote 
them, in some cases with greater and in others with 
less distinctness and strength. This expression is pro- 
duced by the action of certain muscles, which by a law 
of our physical system are made to conform to the 
existing state of the individual's feelings. When, 
therefore, an individual is under the influence of a 
certain passion, or feeling, as gratitude, generosity, 
love, fear, revenge, guilt, &z;c. his countenance will 
assume an expression indicative of it, during the con- 
tinuance of this influence ; and if he is in the habit 
of indulging any particular passion or state of mind, 
his countenance will uniformly wear a corresponding 
expression. And it is in this way that a man's char- 
acter may be learned by the general posture of his 
features by those who are careful to observe it. And 
the guilt of an individual who is suspected of a crime 
may be pretty satisfactorily determined by the ex- 
pression of his face, when proper measures are taken 
for this purpose, without even letting him know that 
he is the object of suspicion. 

Those operations, however, which are merely 
intellectual, such as memory, imagination^ &c. are 
not, I conceive, themselves expressed by the muscles 
of the face, (notwithstanding some may pretend that 
they are,) as this would not answer any beneficial 
purpose, since the evidence of the existence and 
8* 



90 

extent of these operations, may be obtained in those 
works, which are the fruits of them. The state of 
feelings however, produced even by the exercise of 
these faculties, as pleasure, satisfaction, disappoint- 
ment, vexation, Stc. is, in common with other moral 
emotions, I conceive, also indicated by this muscu- 
lar expression of the face, as it is necessary it 
should be, probably, for similar beneficial purposes, 
and for similar reasons, viz. that there is often- 
times no other way of ascertaining this state of 
feeling. So that Physiognomy is both a rational 
and useful science, and may be made promotive of 
important discoveries when pursued with judgment 
and sagacity. 



PLAN OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 

We find, upon examining the constitution of our 
nature, that we are endued with certain pamon^, 
affections^ and appetites j which have for their objects 
the Deity himself, our fellow creatures, the material 
world, and the different branches of knowledge of 
which the human mind is capable. By the order 
of things which is seen to exist in the world, there 
are continual occasions for calling this part of our 
nature into exercise, and affording it its appropriate 
gratifications. This is produced by the course of 
events as they arise, and by the relations we are 



91 

made to sustain towards every thing which is be- 
yond us. We find also that we have implanted 
within us, a faculty, which is called reason, or the 
power of discerning these relations and the conse- 
quences of all our actions, which are performed 
from the impulse of these passions, affections, and 
appetites, and with a view to their gratification. 
By this faculty we can discover in what way they 
may be exercised, so as to be productive of pleas- 
ure or of pain, both as it regards their immediate 
and their distant consequences ; and that this pleas- 
ure or pain naturally and necessarily belongs to, and 
follows, these actions. We find also that we are 
possessed of a faculty which is called the will, that 
enables us to choose and perform certain actions 
with a view to these consequences. The influence 
of external circumstances upon us, as addressed to 
these passions, affections, and appetites, is what is 
called motives. These motives are of two kinds as 
relating to every action, the stronger and the weaker, 
the former implying that an obedience to them, on 
the whole, will be productive, either immediately or 
remotely, of the greatest degree of happiness to us ; 
the latter, of the least. The choosing the former 
may be called virtue, and the latter vice. We find 
also that the facility of obeying one or the other set 
of motives, the stronger or the weaker, will be in- 
creased by what is called the power of habit, which is 
another principle of our nature. In as great a de- 



92 

gree as we acquire this habit of following one set of 
motives, we acquire the habit also of resisting the 
other. 

We have also a power implanted in our nature, 
which takes cognizance of our feehngs and actions, 
as being right or wrong, good or evil, when consid- 
ered in relation to our nature and the constitution 
of things, in which we are placed. This power is 
called conscience, which approves or condemns, re- 
wards or punishes, according to the character of 
every action and feeling, upon which it sits in judg- 
ment. 

This, then, is a summary description of the consti- 
tution of our nature, and of the state of things in which 
we are placed. The fact ^ that we are endued with 
this constitution and placed in this state by the Dei- 
ty, is the evidence, that he is the author of the sys- 
tem ; and the whole operation of it, as it has been 
described, proves, that it is to be considered as the 
plan of government he has established, over his 
sensitive, intelligent, and moral beings. 

From the preceding account it will follow, that 
man is a rational, free, moral, and accountable being, 
capable of discerning what course of conduct, on 
the whole, will be productive of pleasure or pain, 
happiness or misery, or in other words, what is mor- 
ally right or wrong, good or evil, and of pursuing 
this conduct with a view to these consequences. 
The object of placing him in such a state of things, 



93 

is to enable him to acquire those habits, which, as a 
necessary consequence, will induce him to pursue 
the good and avoid the evil, to do right always, and 
never wrong. This is to fulfil the end of his being, 
and acquire the character for which he was sent into 
the world. And for this purpose it is that all the 
events of life, either relating to himself individually, 
or in connexion with other portions of his race, are 
ordered by the Deity — -to operate upon his moral 
nature, and afford the necessary motives for the ex- 
ercise of this nature. These events may be called 
either prosperous or adverse, productive of pain or 
pleasure to him ; but all are of a benevolent charac- 
ter, as they are intended, if properly used, to 
strengthen those parts of his nature which he has 
suffered to become most defective, or reform those 
which he has perverted. They operate in no other 
way upon him but by the motives which they sug- 
gest, which he is left at perfect hberty either to fol- 
low or resist, incurring and suffering the consequen- 
ces of the choice he shall make. These events, or 
in other words, the dispensations of Providence, are 
either instructive, intended to indicate what is the 
correct course to be pursued, upon the supposition 
that man is in ignorance or doubt what conduct he 
ought to practise, that is, which is the right or which 
is the wrong way ; or they are disciplinary, calcu- 
lated to strengthen certain habits and prevent oth- 
ers I or they are sent as a punishment, to reform 



94 

these habits and operate as an example to other in- 
dividuals. 

The great object to be answered by this plan of 
government is, that every principle of our nature 
should be properly cultivated and act in its particu- 
lar sphere, without interfering with that of any oth- 
er ; that the character should become perfect in all 
its parts, and in this way made productive to the in- 
dividual and the species, of all the happiness which 
would naturally and necessarily grow out of it. 
Our nature being a mixed one, compounded of 
principles which, for the sake of distinction, may be 
called selfish and benevolent, the one having refer- 
ence to ourselves merely, as the desire of power, 
wealth, and fame, and the other springing from a re- 
gard to our fellow creatures, as friendship, love, 
esteem, patriotism, and compassion, there is danger, 
that unless properly controlled and regulated, the 
former may get the entire ascendency over the lat- 
ter, and partially or entirely stifle them. The for- 
mer are called selfish, because the consideration of 
self is the distinct and actuating motive to their ex- 
ercise. The latter are called benevolent, because, 
though the exercise of them procures a gratification 
to us no less real than the former, this gratification 
is not the motive to their exercise, is not a calcula^ 
tion made by us at the time of it, but only a conse- 
quence which naturally flows from it. We do not 
love, esteem, or form a friendship for a person, be- 



95 

cause the exercise of these afFections will, as a con- 
sequence, produce pleasure to us. We do not 
premeditate their exercise with this view. But as a 
natural effect^ and in conformity to our moral con- 
stitution, they do produce pleasure to us. In the 
case of the selfish principles, it is a view to the 
possession of the objects of them, as money, power, 
fame, and not the indulgence of them alone, as ava- 
rice, ambition, and a desire of fame, which consti- 
tutes their gratification ; but in the case of the be- 
nevolent principles, it is the indulgence of the prin- 
ciple itself, feeling the emotion of esteem, love, 
friendship, and patriotism, which affords the pleasure. 
This is evident not only from our own experience 
upon the subject, but from the fact that persons liv- 
ing in former ages or in distant countries, who were 
or are distinguished for their moral excellence, or 
the heroes of fiction and romance, do excite these 
emotions in us, when it must be impossible that they 
can in any way reward us for it, or even know the 
fact. Now the exercise of both these classes of 
principles is necessary for the perfection and welfare 
of our nature, and of mankind at large. And if 
they are kept within proper bounds, and put under 
proper control, instead of clashing with each other, 
they will be found perfectly to harmonize and co-op- 
erate. And the plan of the Deity is, that this effect 
should be produced, and his dispensations of every 
kind are ordered for the purpose of bringing it about, 



96 

so far as is consistent with the moral freedom of his 
creatures. In all the events which have happened 
from the beginning of time to the present moment, 
and in all the purposes which have been accomphsh- 
ed by them, there never has been a single instance 
in which the free agency of man has been infringed, 
or in which any moral result has been produced, in 
any other way than by the operation of motives up- 
on his mind, which it was perfectly in his power to 
have obeyed or resisted. 

But the benevolent principles have an advantage 
which is peculiar to themselves, and this is, that be- 
sides the gratification actually accompanying their ex- 
ercise, without even any view to it, they would, if act- 
ed upon universally, be productive of all the advan- 
tages which follow from their opposites^ or selfishness 
in its most narrow and strict signification. To take 
generosity, for instance, the person practising it 
would not only enjoy the pleasure of doing good to 
another, which would be one kind of gratification, 
and having his esteem and gratitude as a conse- 
quence, which would be another ; but he, in his turn, 
would also become the recipient of similar favors 
from others, should he need them, and so, on the 
whole, would lose nothing even on the. score of 
property, as to all purposes for which property is in 
fact valuable, that is, to enable us to satisfy our 
wants. And thus it seems that even policy, so call- 
ed, or a regard to what is termed a '' quid ^^ro 



97 

quo " would urge to the adoption of this system of 
benevolence universally. The same kind of illustra- 
tion may be given of all the other benevolent virtues 
exercised in any way whatever, and the practice of 
them shown to be in fact but enlarged selfishness, or a 
true regard for our own interest. This refutes com- 
pletely the doctrine that the benevolent and the self- 
ish principles of our nature are at war with each 
other ; and shows how they can, and were intended, 
entirely to concur in their operation. 

I have now explained the nature of man, the kind 
of government exercised by the Deity over him, 
and the purpose of his being ; or in other words, 
the scheme of things as we see it illustrated in the 
world around us. An inquiry may now be started, — 
What is the use of all this moral machinery ? Why 
were we made with such a nature, capable of be- 
ing overcome by temptation, and led into the ways 
of sin, and of incurring all the evil and suffering 
which befall us as a consequence of it. Why were 
we not made in the first instance perfect, both in our 
moral and intellectual nature, incapable of trans- 
gressing either, but enjoying all the happiness which 
accompanies a right developement and cultivation 
of both ? In answer to this, my first reply is, that 
we do not know that such a nature could be given 
to finite and derived beings ; and even if it could, 
that it would be productive of so much happiness as 
the present. My second reply is, that the present 
9 



98 

scheme of things came from the hands of an in- 
finitely wise, powerful, and benevolent Being, and 
therefore is to be presumed to be the best which 
could be devised. And my third reply is, that as our 
existence and all the happiness flowing from it, are 
mere gifts ^ acts of sovereign grace, which we never 
have repaid, and never can repay, by any equivalent 
benefit, we have no right to find fault with the plan of 
it, but should receive it in the same spirit of gratitude, 
that we would a charitable donation from one of our 
fellow creatures, without stopping to cavil about the 
nature or the value of it. So long as the gift will be 
highly beneficial to us, if we make a right use of it, 
we have no right to complain, because it is possible 
we may suffer, in consequence of perverting it from 
its intended application. 

In my first reply I said that we did not know that 
a nature, perfect both intellectual and moral, couid 
be given to finite and derived beings, and even if it 
could, that it would, on the whole, be productive of 
as much happiness to them. Our nature seems to 
me, to be a medium between one governed entirely 
by instinct, and one possessing the attributes of the 
Deity himself, in perfect wisdom, power, and be- 
nevolence. The inquiry fairly is, then, why we 
were not put under the control and guidance of 
mere instinct ; or why we were not endued with the 
perfection of the Divine character, which would re- 
quire that a universe be assigned to each individual 



99 

for its developement, peopled with finite beings, who, 
in their turn, might make the same objection against 
their nature. Instead of being directed by instinct 
as to the manner and to what extent we shall grati- 
fy our wants of body and mind, we are left to the 
direction of our reason, which we may either trans- 
gress or not. So far our nature is above the brutes. 
And instead of having that perfect knowledge, which 
can trace the whole chain of future events linked 
together by causes and consequences, and all the 
phenomena of mind and matter ; and knowing cer- 
tainly what will be the precise effect of every one 
of our actions, whether it will be productive of hap- 
piness or suffering to us ; and so being able to regu- 
late ourselves by this perfect knowledge, which would 
make us naturally incapable of sin or error, we are 
left to infer consequences and effects from past ex- 
perience, and observation of ourselves, and external 
nature, from history, and from noticing the conduct 
of others. In other words, we are placed entirely 
under the guidance oi reason, as informing us what 
is probable — not what is certain. So far we are in 
our nature below the Deity. And the very na- 
ture of reason, as thus explained, implies, that as it 
may be exercised correctly, so it may be abused. 
Besides, does not a large portion of the happiness 
we enjoy, consist of the satisfaction we receive from 
making progress in the cultivation of our moral and 
intellectual nature — not rnerelv in the exercise of 



100 

these powers themselves, or in the knowledge we 
gain from them, but in the consciousness, that constant 
efforts are necessary for this purpose, and that we 
have been true to our nature in making them ? Does 
it not consist in overcoming difficulties, in resisting 
temptation, and in exercising our powers of body 
and mind with energy and effect ? Does it not con- 
sist in the reflection, that our knowledge and char- 
acter are the result of our own labors ? Of this we 
may be satisfied, I think, when we consider the differ- 
ent emotions we feel when a meritorious action is con- 
sidered as proceeding from ourselves or another, or 
of a valuable discovery in knowledge or science as 
made by ourselves, or as learnt from another. Now if 
we were originally made perfect in virtue and knowl- 
edge, supposing it possible in itself, we could feel 
none of this satisfaction, as they would not, in either 
case, be the fruits of our own labors, but the ne- 
cessary and passive effects of our constitution-— a 
constitution given us by another, over the develope- 
ment and cultivation of which, by the supposition, 
we have no control, and could neither promote nor 
impede. These remarks will not apply to the Dei- 
ty, though he is not under the guidance either of in- 
stinct or reason, properly so called ; and though he 
is self-existent, of perfect knowledge and power, to 
the abuse and perversion of which there can be no 
possible temptation ; for his happiness consists not 
in his nature, I apprehend, but in bringing about th© 



101 

results which he desires, so far as is consistent with 
the constitution he has given to his creatures, and the 
government he has estabhshed over them. It consists 
in overruling by his providence, the actions of his 
creatures, for the advancement of their own happiness. 
If he were alone in the world, or governed them by- 
mere power, he would be as incapable of happiness, I 
conceive, as mankind would be with perfect natures, 
and for the same reason. Every thing, then, would, 
as respects him, be in fact a necessary effect, instead 
of matter of choice, to be determined by the contin- 
gent conduct of his creatures, over which he exercis- 
es no other control but that of motives. But by adapt- 
ing his measures to beings he has created rational and 
free, he has furnished himself with increasing em- 
ployment, the results of which are constantly transpir- 
ing, and calling for new applications of his power 
and wisdom. 

Having thus " vindicated the ways of God to 
man," in the plan of his government, and the course 
of his Providence, I come now to the subjects of 
rewards and punishments in this hfe and the future. 
The rewards and punishments of actions in this life 
being the consequences which they draw after them 
as their necessary effects, and for the purposes be- 
fore mentioned, viz. the reformation of the individ- 
ual, and an example to others ; and this part of the 
subject being so generally and correctly understood, 
I will not stop to consider it more in detail. As to 
9* 



102 

future punishments, I apprehend very erroneous 
views have hitherto prevailed. It has been supposed 
by one class of persons, that the punishment of the 
wicked in a future world would necessarily be eter- 
nal^ and could in no way be mitigated or removed 
by any conduct of them, after they entered this state. 
By another class it has been supposed, that they 
would either be immediately annihilated at death, 
or after being punished for a certain length of time. 
And by a third class it has been believed, that all the 
punishment inflicted upon them, would be in this 
world, and that they would immediately be made 
happy upon entering another world. Now I consid- 
er all these views false. The only just object of 
punishment, as I conceive, both in this world and the 
next, which is warranted from the scheme of gov- 
ernment, as we see it pursued by the Deity on earth, 
is the reformation of the individual punished, and an 
example to others. Punishment inflicted for any other 
purpose would be entirely vindictive, the occasioning 
suffering for no possible beneficial purpose, and no 
more nor less than wanton cruelty. As then, all the 
different states of punishment, before described, pro- 
ceed upon the supposition that the probation of man, 
when he leaves this world, is closed, and that his 
condition hereafter, through eternity, is to be deter- 
mined by his conduct here, it is manifest that such 
punishment can operate neither to reform himself 



103 

nor deter others from sin ; can answer the purpose 
of punishment in no way whatever. 

The true state of the case I consider to be this : 
Mankind carry with them into the future state, the 
characters they have here at death. If these char- 
acters are in any degree sinful, they will be placed 
in another course of probation, where they will be 
subjected to punishments of such kinds, degrees, and 
duration, as will be most likely to produce the de- 
sired effect — a reformation of character, or a change 
from sin to holiness. And whenever this change 
takes place, they will, as a necessary consequence of 
it, become heirs of salvation, or enjoy that happiness 
which will spring from a character perfectly purified. 
If they continue, however, to persist in a course of 
sinfulness, they will continue to be the subjects of 
punishment, and if such a thing can be conceived 
possible as a being sinning for ever, he may be pun- 
ished for ever. Any duration of punishment short 
of eternal, and not followed by annihilation, must 
suppose a state of probation continuing, since there 
is no reason why the punishment should not contin- 
ue, if the character is not in any degree reformed 
by the operation of it. If a man should be sentenc- 
ed to be punished a thousand years in another world, 
there is no reason for discontinuing the punishment 
at the end of the thousand years, unless his charac- 
ter had changed. If it had changed, it would prove 
that it had been a course of probation to him. In- 



104 

deed, unless it had changed, his character would of 
itself be a source of misery to him. 

These views do not, I conceive, militate at all 
with the scripture account of the punishment which 
will be inflicted hereafter upon the wicked. The 
words describing it there, are necessarily obscure 
and indefinite, and import only a much more severe 
infliction than any thing realized in this world. As 
this punishment is to be adapted to persons of diffe- 
rent degrees of sinfulness, some requiring one kind 
of punishment and some another, some one degree^ 
and some another, and some one period of duration 
and some another, it could not be expressed in terms 
explicit and precise. Neither was it necessary it 
should be so expressed. All that is necessary to 
know, is the certainty that punishment of some sort 
or other, and that of a nature to inspire the utmost 
dread and alarm, will be inflicted, leaving it to the 
imagination to suggest such terrible forms of it, as 
will be most likely to deter the sinner from persist- 
ing in a course of disobedience to the laws of God, 
and incurring his dreadful judgments. 

Besides the above objections against the doctrine 
of annihilation^ and eternal punishment, necessari- 
ly such, that they would in no way answer the pur- 
pose of punishment, but be entirely of a vindictive 
character — there are other insurmountable difficul- 
ties attending these schemes. 



105 

The proportion of the human race who leave this 
world perfect in their moral characters must be very 
small indeed ; and therefore upon the supposition 
that either of these doctrines is true, one of two 
consequences must follow. And these are, either 
that a great majority of the human race are to be 
entirely annihilated^ or eternally p*inished — or else, 
that many who are not perfect when they leave this 
world, may be made immediately, perfectly happy, 
upon entering the next, notwithstanding this imper- 
fection of their characters. This latter consequence 
would necessarily imply, that this world was not a 
state of probation and preparation for the next, since 
the future condition of men was not made entirely 
to depend upon the characters they formed here. 
And it will not do to say, that though all those who 
are in any manner imperfect should be eternally 
punished, yet that the degrees of this punishment 
may be different in different individuals, according 
to their respective characters, and so in some m^ 
stances very slight^ since our idea of punishment is 
the predominance on the whole of pain over pleas- 
ure, as the reverse of this can be no punishment, — 
and therefore eternal punishment is subjecting all 
those upon whom it is inflicted to this predominance^ 
be it in a greater or in a less degree ; that is, in 
effect making them miserable /or ever. Characters 
differing in grades of sinfulness may be exposed, it 



106 

is true, to different degrees of sujfFering, but all are 
by the supposition to receive it through eternity. 

This consequence then follows therefore as before 
mentioned, either that all persons imperfect in their 
characters are to be e^er/2aZ/y punished, let the shade 
of imperfection be as slight as it may — -or else that 
such persons, notwithstanding this imperfection in all 
its various shades, are to be placed in the same 
condition with the perfectly righteous, provided that 
virtue, or hohness, on the whole predominates in 
their character ; that is, provided they happen to fall 
on the right side of a division line which may be 
supposed to separate the good from the wicked, 
however near this line they may be. This, it will 
readily be perceived, would be to confound all mor- 
al distinctions in character among those who might 
be on the right side of the hne, and offer no induce- 
ment to them to make themselves perfect, even as 
their " Father in Heaven is perfect," as the most 
sinful person would fare as well as the most holy 
one, provided he was not sinful enough, to carry him 
beyond the line of demarcation. 

The same remarks will apply to the doctrine of 
annihilation, whether considered as happening im- 
mediately at death, or after a temporary state of pun- 
ishment. It must be inflicted either upon all who 
are not morally perfect when they leave this world ; 
or else upon all who fall on the wrong side of the 
line of demarcation, without regard either to the 



107 

difference in the characters of those who are saved 
from it, or of those who are subjected to it. 

The short period in which we are suffered to 
remain in this world too, and the difference even in 
this among different persons, has always struck me 
as a powerful objection to both eternal punishment, 
or annihilation. To make our condition for eterni- 
ty to depend irrecoverably upon the characters we 
form in a span of existence so brief, even at longest, 
seems to me to militate with all the moral attributes 
we ascribe to the Dity, to his justice, his wisdom, 
and his benevolence. 

It has been said in defence of this doctrine, that 
sin is an offence against an infinite Being, and there- 
fore even a single act of it is deserving infinite pun- 
ishment ; but this would be, to make the sinfulness 
of conduct to consist not in the motives which led 
to it, and its malignant influence upon the character 
of the person committing it, but upon the abstract 
nature of the Being against whom it was committed 
— the mere infinity of his attributes, which conside- 
rations might never have entered the mind of the 
sinner, and his conduct had no reference to them. 
- Besides, if this circumstance would justify eternal 
or infinite punishment, it would also follow, that a 
single act of virtue or holy obedience would give 
the person performing it a claim to eternal happi- 
ness ; since it would be doing the will of a Being 
infinite in his nature — and by the supposition it is 



108 

this infinite nature alone, which is to determine the 
character of the action, and duration of the misery 
or happiness of mankind, and not the manner in 
which their own character is affected by their con- 
duct. Conduct in this way would be made a matter 
of claim for reward, and not a condition by which 
we are to render ourselves suitable to be the recipi- 
ents of Divine blessings, and life everlasting. 

But against the doctrine of the future state being 
a continuation of this in its character and objects, as 
it has been before considered, with the consequences 
therefrom deduced, there lie not any of these objec- 
tions, and no others, that cannot be explained away. 

An argument of this kind has been sometimes 
urged in favor of the doctrine of eternal punishment, 
necessarily such. It has been said, that God has 
promised eternal life to the righteous : — why should 
he not inflict eternal punishment upon the wicked ? 
But the reply which has been made to this inquiry, 
I think satisfactory, that the former is of the nature 
of a gift and the latter of a deprivation — and 
though the Deity may, if he pleases, bestow a 
blessing, as happiness, and this as an act of free, 
unmerited grace ; he has not strictly a right (be it 
spoken w^ith reverence) from the nature of things, 
he himself has created, to deprive any of his crea- 
tures of this happiness, or render them even for 
a time miserable, unless with a view to their own 
ultimate and lasting happiness. In this respect he 



109 

stands in relation to mankind, as an Earthly parent to 
his children, who may, and should, do every thing to 
improve their condition and render them happy, but 
who has no right to inflict pain upon them, except 
their conduct be such as to require it for their own 
good, and then no longer, than it is necessary for this 
purpose. A man imj give another what he pleases, 
but he has no right to take from him any thing belong- 
ing to him. So does the Deity stand, I conceive, 
related to mankind, in regard to their eternal happi- 
ness or misery. 

That punishment will be eternal^ has also been 
attempted to be proved in this way. The conse- 
quences of sin are said to be eternal in their very 
nature. If a person perverts his talents and his time ; 
if instead of forming good habits, he forms bad ones ; 
although he should afterwards reform entirely and 
acquire the character it was intended he should in 
the first instance form, it is said he has lost just so 
much time in his moral progress, as was consumed 
in forming bad habits, and afterwards eradicating 
them ; and that though he should go on in the right 
course ever afterwards, through the countless ages 
of eternity, still he can never redeem the time he 
has lost, but be always so much in the rear of that 
progress, which he otherwise would have made. 
Now this hypothesis strikes me as proceeding upon 
a supposition false in respect to two circumstances ; 
one, that our moral character is capable of endless 
10 



no 



improvement, and may be perpetually progressing 
towards perfection through eternity, without ever 
reaching it ; the other, that this sense of wasted 
time and talents is to continue with us for ever, or 
after we have redeemed our character ; and thus 
become an unending source of uneasiness or misery 
to us. 

As to the first, that our character is capable of 
endless improvement^ requiring eternity for its per- 
fection, I do not think it is in itself well founded. 
The perfection of moral character consisting only in 
a subjection of all the passions, feelings, and conduct 
to the control of reason, and the formation of those 
habits which it was designed we should form, it does 
not seem to me to require a very long period of time 
for this purpose ; not longer than this Hfe would ordi- 
narily afford. It is true we may, and probably shall, 
go on through eternity acquiring knowledge res^QCim^ 
inoral truths^ and that a perfect moral character may 
be necessary for a true perception and enjoyment 
of these truths, but this kind of knowledge, I con- 
ceive, is not in itself designed to improve the charac- 
ter, but to reivard it. As children in the present state 
are required to form certain habits of mind and con- 
duct, by passing through a course of discipline and 
education for this purpose, before they can pursue 
their studies to advantage for the acquisition of knowl- 
edge — which habits may not be necessarily ther/i' 
selves improved by this acquisition of knowledge, 



Ill 

though the knowledge itself is made to depend upon 
them. 

As to the second consideration, that this sense of 
wasted time and talents will continue with us for 
ever, and so make us for ever miserable, the first ob- 
jection to this is, that it would necessarily make all 
mankind /or ever miserable, as all have wasted their 
time and talents in a greater or less degree ; so 
that there could not be such a thing as perfect hap- 
piness ever with any one in a future world ; the 
second objection is, that there is no need of this 
sense, or the uneasiness proceeding from it continu- 
ing after the character is reformed. This can be 
only useful as inducing us to make those exertions 
which are necessary for this reformation, and when 
this is accomplished, this will probably cease, as 
the reason of it will have ceased. And, I think 
we find this to be the case in this world, that when 
bad habits have been forsaken, and good ones form- 
ed, the sense of degradation and uneasiness, which 
attended the former, also cease with them, and the 
person becomes restored to entire tranquillity of 
mind and a sense of self respect. And if this does 
not take place in this world, and should in another, 
the same effect would probably follow it. 

Still, as it takes a long time to confirm bad hab- 
its, and a still longer time to eradicate them, and 
supplant them by good ones,— and as there is a 
great deal of suffering constantly realized as a con- 



112 

sequence, until this reformation takes place, this of 
itself should be a sufficient inducement to persons 
to beware of forming bad habits, and to endeavour 
to form good ones. Like the act of drownings 
the forming of bad habits is a source of great pain, 
both while the person is plunging into them, and 
also while the process oj restoration from them is go- 
ing on, until he is entirely recovered. 



LIGHT OF NATURE AND HEVELATION. 

I APPREHEND that, strictly speaking, there is no 
deficiency in the light of nature as a guide in reli- 
gion, the same doctrines being deducible from it as 
are contained in Revelation. I infer this, as w^ell 
from the circumstance of all the doctrines of 
Christianity being conformable to human reason, as 
from the fact that mankind w^ere for so long a time 
left without any other guide than the light of nature, 
which I think can be accounted for, upon no other 
supposition, than that this was in itself sufficient, if 
properly investigated. For as their duties and des- 
tination were the same under the one system as the 
other, it is not to be presumed they would be left 
in unavoidable ignorance, what these duties and des- 
tination were. The difference then, I conceive, 
between the fight of nature and Revelation is (with- 



113 

out supposing any actual deficiency in the former) 
that the evidence is transferred from the doctrines 
themselves to the fad of Revelation being of Di- 
vine origin. For if \hefact of a Revelation be es- 
tabhshed, the truth of the doctrines contained in it 
follows of course. The question, therefore, I think, 
resolves itself now into this shape, which is the 
strongest, the evidence in favor of Revelation as such, 
or the evidence of the doctrines contained in it, as 
drawn from the light of nature. Now as Revela- 
tion was given subsequently to what may be called 
Natural Religion, because human reason either did 
not discover any, or all the doctrines themselves, or 
because the degree of evidence it found them to 
rest upon, was not such as did influence the conduct 
of mankind in most cases, therefore it is to be pre- 
sumed as a matter of course, that the evidence of 
Revelation would be stronger than that of Natural 
Religion, which is undoubtedly the case. There 
was not, I conceive, any deficiency, strictly speaking, 
in the evidence of Natural Rehgion, but mankind 
did not, as they ought, employ their reason to ascer- 
tain what this evidence was, and what are the doc- 
trines supported by it. 

That natural religion has in some, and perhaps in 
many cases, been a sufficient guide, as to the truth, 
the duties, the obligations, and the motives of reli- 
gion, 1 think altogether probable, though to what ex- 
tent, I am not in possession of information to know. 
10^ 



114 

Believing that all the doctrines of Revelation are 
conformable to reason, and in fact its deductions 
supported by new and additional evidence, and 
that reason itself was intended to be a sufficient 
guide, it is fair to presume that in the progress of 
the human mind, these doctrines would probably 
have been reasoned out some time or other, though 
how long a time would have elapsed first, it is im- 
possible to conjecture. 

As the evidence of Natural Religion would al- 
ways have fallen short of that of Revelation, it 
would, probably, have made its way much slower in 
the world, but I am inclined to think it \y ould Jinally 
have prevailed, as mankind became generally en- 
lightened. The Deity however was pleased, from 
his benevolent regard for his creatures probably, to 
anticipate these gradual discoveries by human rea- 
son itself^ by making an exphcit revelation, as soon 
as the human intellect and character had arrived 
at that, state, which would fit them for its reception 
and operation. And until they had attained to this 
state, a revelation, even if made to them, would have 
been of no more use, than a system of Logic or Met- 
aphysics would be to our North American Indians, 
the very elements of which are probably unknown to 
them, and which, therefore, would be altogether 
unintelligible by them. And it is in this way, I ap- 
prehend, persons are apt to fall into an error, when 
they inquire why a revelation was not made at an 



115 

earlier period of the world ; and why it is not now 
propagated among all the nations of the earth, that 
they do not take into view the actual moral and in- 
tellectual condition of those early ages, and those 
pagan countries, which did, and do render them 
necessarily incapable of receiving it. The same 
explanation may also be given of the reason or that 
system of religion which existed among the Jews, 
embracing so many rites and institutions merely 
positive, tha it was the one best calculated with the 
existing condition of that people, to make a suitable 
religious impression upon them. And the same 
reason exists in favor of the Roman Catholic estab- 
lishment at this day, as it relates to that portion of 
this sect who are not sufficiently advanced in intel- 
lectual cultivation, to make it no longer necessary 
that religious truths should be impressed upon them 
through the medium of their senses and their imagi- 
nation* 



CREDIBILITY OF REVELATION AND OF MIRACLES. 

Revelation was not, I conceive, needed or given, 
as has been before explained, because human reason 
was in itself incapable of discovering the truths 
contained in it, but because mankind did not exer- 



116 

cise their reason in a way to make these discoveries, 
as they might have done. 

The Deity created mankind free, rational, moral, 
and accountable beings. Such a nature, he no 
doubt knew would, on the whole, however Uable to 
perversion and abuse, be productive of a greater 
degree of virtue, and consequently happiness, than 
any other that could be given them. For though, 
by the plan of his government, he does not, and 
never did exercise any other influence over the ac- 
tions of mankind than that of motives, which it is 
entirely in their power to resist or obey, yet he over- 
rules these actions by the course of his providence, 
to be productive of as little misery and as much hap* 
piness, as possible. The mode in which he does 
this, I have heretofore explained in another place. 
It will therefore appear from these remarks, that it 
depended upon mankind themselves, whether the 
order of things originally established should prove 
defective or become so disordered as to require a 
revelation. This order of things, strictly consider- 
ed, is no more defective, when viewed in relation to 
the nature of man, than a system of human laws 
under which he may be placed. In the former as 
the latter case, the system itself uibj be perfect, and 
still fail to effect the whole object intended by it, by 
reason of the perversity of mankind themselves^ 
which could probably be prevented in no other 
way, than by changing their very nature itself. 



117 

But it may be asked^ and the inquiry naturally 
arises here, if the Deity foresaw that this order of 
tilings would prove defective^ why did he appoint it? 
J answer, because it was the only course he could 
adopt consistently with the nature he had given man, 
which nature, as has been said, was the hes^t that 
could have been devised, for the end intended. 
And because, though he foresaw that mankind would 
fail, as they have, to make these discoveries by 
means of their reason, which have been disclosed 
by revelation^ yet he also foresaw, that they would, 
83 they have, so cultivate and improve their reason, 
as to render themselves capable of understanding 
and embracing these truths, when they should be 
revealed. The Deity has, I conceive, reserved to 
himself, from the very nature he has given us, whe- 
ther considered as moral or rational, no more power 
to improve this nature, and bring it'^to perfection, 
than an earthly parent has over the character of his 
children, except^ that the course of discipline pro- 
ceeding from a being perfect in all his attributes, 
will of course be better adapted to the peculiar 
circumstances of his creatures, than one proceeding 
from a human parent, imperfect as he, in all these 
respects, will probably be. And as all that the lat-^ 
ter can do, in regard to his children, is to afford them 
the best means of improvement, and subject them 
to tlie wisest system of disciphne, so this is all that 
the Deity can do with them, I conceive^ leaving 



118 

them with these aids to make what progress in 
knowledge and virtue they please, and to incur those 
consequences, which their conduct is fitted, by the 
constitution of things which he has ordained, to 
produce. 

Mankind, by the system of things under which 
they live, may therefore improve their moral and 
intellectual nature faster or slower, as they see fit ; 
and may attain to that degree of intelligence, which 
would of itself enable them to discover by reason 
alone, all those truths which revelation discloses, 
and still fail to exercise their reason in a way to 
make this discovery. But even if they fail to make 
this discovery by reason, it is necessary they should 
attain to this degree of intelUgence, before a revela- 
tion of these truths can be made to them, because 
until they attain to it, they cannot understand them 
even when revealed. This is just as conceivable as 
that a person should make himself acquainted with 
the elementary branches of Mathematics, and still by 
this acquaintance fail of himself to discover those 
principles and deductions, which belong to the more 
advanced branches of this science. This acquaint- 
ance, though he may have failed frona it to make this 
discovery itself, may and would be necessary in or- 
der to enable him to understand those higher branch- 
es, when he arrived at them. 

The objection to Revelation as being received by 
a small number of the human race, will apply as 



119 

well to all the truths which have been discovered 
by human reason, and to all kinds of knowledge. 
This state of things is produced by the constitution 
of the world, and the nature which is given to man- 
kind, and the manner in which this constitution and 
nature are improved by them. It probably is not 
necessary, and would not be required, that every in- 
dividual, be his condition what it may, should inves- 
tigate for himself the evidence upon which religious 
truths stand, or the reasons in which they originate, 
any more than the evidence, upon which truths 
appertaining to any other branches of human knowl- 
edge rest. The existing state of things will not 
allow this. All that is actually necessary in both 
cases is, that some part of mankind should be able 
to investigate and satisfy themselves, and that those 
who, from their condition in life, or any other cir- 
cumstance, are incompetent to this, should receive 
their religion upon the authority of those, in whose 
judgment and candor they can confide — in the same 
manner that they do that information respecting 
other branches of knowledge and the ordinary affairs 
of life, which is necessary for the regulation of their 
conduct, in regard to them. 

The first objection against miracles is, that they 
are said to have been performed by finite beings, 
who it is supposed never would be endued with su- 
pernatural powers, for this purpose, to exercise 
according to their own will and pleasure. But this, 



ISO 

I conceive to be a mistaken view of the subject. 
Miracles, I apprehend, never were performed by 
any finite beings themselves. Finite beings hav6 
been employed, it is true, by the Deity under certain 
circumstances as his instruments, to invoke his 
power for the performance of miracles, to aid in 
the fulfilment of his ot^^n purposes. These circum- 
stances, and the purpose to be accomplished by the 
miracles, have probably in every instance been per- 
ceived by the person working the miracle, by the 
eye of faith alone, for it is through the agency of 
this principle, under the guidance of reason, I con- 
ceive, that the Deity ever has made all the com- 
munications of his will to mankind. God, being 
himself a spirit, can only be perceived by mortals 
through his works, and it is from these works, that 
we are to learn his character, government, and will. 

JVo individual, probably, ever had power to per- 
form a miracle himself, but was only used as the 
agent to indicate to his fellow men the circumstan- 
ces under which it would please the Deity himself 
to work the miracle ; and under no other than these 
circumstances would the miracle have follow^ed, 
even had the Divine power been invoked for the 
purpose. 

The argument of Hume against rniracles, as I 
understand it, to state it briefly, is this, tiz. — It is 
within our experience that the testimony of men has 
heen false, but it is not within our experience, that 



121 

there ever has been a departure from uniformity in 
the operations of nature, as we see it to exist. My 
first reply to this objection is, that it is not true, 
that it is within our experience, that the testimony 
of men has been false under the circumstances in 
which it was given in the case under consideration. 
For such a case has never come w^ithin our own 
personal experience. And it is these peculiar and 
accompanying circumstances, which are to make 
the miracles credible or not. In other words, the 
credibility of miracles depends upon the credibihty 
of revelation itself. Just so far as revelation, as 
such, is credible, yw5^ so far miracles are, as being 
necessary to support it. 

Again, miracles are credible, not merely as being 
the evidence in part upon which revelation depends, 
but as designed to furnish additional evidence of 
the truths of JYatural Religion itself By this I 
mean to prove that God is employed in carrying on 
all those operations which take place in the world. 
For it is a perfectly fair inference, that the same 
Being who produces a certain effect by an act of 
instantaneous power, as raising the dead, giving 
sight to the bhnd, hearing to the deaf, &£c. must 
also be the Author of our existence, and of our 
senses, by the train of second causes, which are put 
in operation for these purposes. And this 1 con- 
ceive to be another of the purposes to be effected 
by miracles — to show us that second causes are 
11 



122 

merely modes of operation^ and not, in any case, 
efficient, or in themselves productive of the conse- 
quences which follow from them. 

The other arguments, which have been urged in 
reply to Hume, I will merely glance at, as I consid- 
er them perfectly sound and unanswerable. 

The first is, that his doctrine would go to the 
subversion of all knowledge, which did not come 
within our own personal experience. JVb truths 
in this case are to be beheved upon the investigation 
of others. Those who have not an opportunity to 
study astronomy, must believe, that the sun revolves 
round the earth, and not the earth round the sun, 
for this is in accordance with the testimony of their 
senses acting alone. Those who live in the torrid 
zone, must believe that water always remains hquid, 
and never freezes, for they have never seen the con- 
trary. 

The second argument against Hume is, that his 
doctrine would lead to Atheism, as a necessary 
consequence, with all those who are not them" 
selves able to reason out the doctrines of religion. 
They are not to receive the testimony of others, in 
opposition to the evidence of their own senses. 
They are therefore bound to believe, that the world 
always has existed, just as it now exists, and that it 
will always continue to exist in the same way. That 
there is wo. Supreme Being ; that second causes are 
in fact the efficient causes ; and that when they die^ 



123 

they will cease to exist ; that therefore they are 
neither immortal nor accountable beings. These 
are the doctrines as supported by the senses, without 
the aid of Reason or of Revelation, 

The next argument against Hume, and an over- 
whelming one, as I conceive, is, that his doctrine 
refutes itself, ^nd proves its own absurdity. This is, 
that there are such things as moi^al miracles as well 
as natural, and that it requires the belief of a great- 
er moral miracle, to disbeheve the alleged natural 
ones, than the natural ones themselves. That the 
moral order of things is found to rest upon a basis 
as stable and uniform, as the physical, and that 
there must have been a departure from this uni- 
formity, and this stability must have been destroyed, 
if the physical miracles were never performed. 



THE NATURE OP THE EVIDENCE ARISING FROM CHRISTIAN 
MIRACLES. 

The remark has been repeatedly made in the 
course of this book, that the dispensations of the 
Deity have, in every successive age of the world, 
been made with reference to the nature of man, as 
a free, rational, and accountable being, and also to 
the existing degree of r^the developement and cultiva- 
tion of his moral and intellectual powers. It fol- 
lows from this nature and condition, therefore, that 



124 

when any new system of government, or additional 
revelation of his will is to be made, to the human 
race, it must be accompanied with such evidence as 
is adapted to convince the reason of man, and influ- 
ence his conduct, but notsuch^ ^sw'iW overpower the 
one, and control the other, because, in such a case, it 
would deprive him of his free-agencif, and make 
him a mere machine m the hands of Deity. 

Now to apply these reflections to that dispensa- 
tion which is termed the " New Testament,'* or the 
Gospel preached by Jesus Christ. This was attest- 
ed both by miracles and the fulfilment of prophe- 
cies ; but neither of these were of a kind, consid- 
ering the state of the world at that time, to afford 
evidence which should be in itself irresistible and 
overwhelm^ingj which should leave the mind in no 
doubt, and preclude all investigation. At that period 
of the world there existed an almost universal belief 
in the agency of the Devil and of other evil spirits, in 
the government of the universe, and in the affairs of 
mankind. This impression existing, the miracles 
which were wrought by Christ, did not necessarily car- 
ry the conviction to the minds of men, or even to his 
own, that they proceeded from God himself; but they 
and he were still left to exercise their reason and faith 
upon the subject, and determine upon candid reflec- 
tion and investigation of the circumstances, whether 
they were the works of God, or proceeded from 
those beings, in whose existence they had been in 



125 

the habit of believing. This question then was one 
to be first settled in the minds of both, to do which 
properly, it was necessary that they should combat 
and overcome, all their ch^ished opinions and deep 
rooted prejudices, upon this subject, as well as upon 
others ; and it was these circumstances which took 
away from the miracles of Christ that irresistible in- 
fluence, which otherwise they must have had, and 
which of itself would have made them an unfit kind of 
sanction for his rehgion. The incredulity therefore, 
of those who would not accredit him as the Son of 
God, nor receive his gospel, is to be accounted for 
by their obstinacy in persisting jn their superstitious 
notions, strengthened as this obstinacy was, by the 
disappointment of their expectations that he would 
at that time be a temporal Prince and Messiah ; and 
the faith of those, who were led to beheve in his 
divine mission, and adopt his religion, was the result 
of the conquest they effected over all these precon- 
ceived impressions and prejudices. The same 
course of remarks might be extended to the fulfil- 
ment of the prophecies^ but this has been done in 
another place, under its appropriate head. 

Now it will clearly appear from this statement, 
that the kind of miracles which were wrought in 
attestation of the Gospel dispensation at that time, 
became precisely the right kind in consequence of 
the superstitious nations which then existed ; and 
that they would be precisely the wrong kind now<^ 
11^ 



126 

because these superstitious notions no longer gene- 
rally prevail. If miracles of the same kind, such 
as raising the dead, healing the sick, curing the 
blind, converting water into wine, multiplying the 
loaves and the fishes, were performed at the present 
period of the world, the evidence furnished by them 
to the senses, would be of such a kind, as would 
completely overpower the reason and the will, and 
leave man no longer di free-agent. There would be 
no doubts to be settled in regard to the origin or 
evidence of the system, and all that he could do, 
would be passively to receive it. It could not be 
made a matter of investigation and discussion, to 
determine whether it had the internal evidence of 
its divinity, such as being in conformity to the de- 
ductions of enlightened reason, and as containing a 
pure and practical morality. All this discussion and 
investigation would be precluded by the very awe 
and dread which would be felt in the minds of men, 
in relation to the subject. In this way, then, it 
would fail to produce many of the beneficial effects 
which it has for its object, which are, to rouse the 
intellectual powers into action, and produce a thor- 
ough and earnest examination of the system upon 
its own merits ; to set men thinking, reasoning, and 
debating upon hs doctrines, and the arguments used 
in explanation of them. The Gospel does not 
rely for its adoption and influence, upon external 
evidence alone, as miracles and the fulfilment of 



127 

prophecies, but it invites, and even challenges ex- 
amination, by the most powerful intellects and the 
most profound erudition which the world has pro- 
duced, or does now furnish*. It is prepared to stand 
or fall, by the result of such a contest, conducted up- 
on fair and manly principles, and will not seek shel- 
ter behind any other kind of unassailable evidence. 
If it cannot be proved to be the '' power of God 
and the wisdom of God," by a course of reasoning 
as strong as any moral reasoning, in its own nature^ 
is capable of being made, it will be content to retire 
from the arena, baffled and discomfited, and yield 
up all its pretensions to a divine origin. But if it can 
thus sustain itself and support its claims, it insists 
that upon this ground, in connexion with other evi- 
dence, it should be considered and acted upon, as 
the " Word of God," for the government of his ra- 
tional creatures. 

By this doubt existing as to the origin of these 
miracles, an exciiement was constantly kept up in 
the minds of the people, which it was necessary 
should be kept up, in order to preserve the attention 
of men alive upon the subject, and ensure an ex- 
amination and discussion of the principles and doc- 
ti'ines, of the new system of religion. The human 
constitution is so framed, that nothing will engage 
the attention of mankind a great while, unless it is 
accompanied with circumstances calculated to pro- 
duce frequent excitement for a continued period. 



128 

And as the preaching of Christ was protracted for 
some length of time, it was for this reason necessa- 
ry that the excitement should endure through the 
same period. 

After the period of these miracles addressed to the 
senses had ceased, the dovht was transferred from 
the miracles themselves, to the testimony of those 
who gave a relation of them ; and this testimony 
then became the great subject of investigation and 
dispute. And as testimony, in its own nature, is 
not calculated to carry irresistible evidence respect- 
ing the subject matter of it, there was still doubt 
enough left upon the minds of mankind of following 
ages, after a belief in the miraculous powers of 
Demons hdid generally ceased to prevail, to enable 
them calmly and candidly to investigate this testimo- 
ny, and the religion resting upon it. So that the 
same effect was produced by doubts respecting tes- 
timony afterwards, that was in the first instance, 
respecting the origin of the miracles themselves. 



OLD TESTAMENT GENERALLY, APOCRYPHA, AND PENTA- 
TEUCH. 

The Old Testament is valuable to Christians, I 
apprehend, as containing an account of a connected 
system of government on the part of the Deity, and 
his series of dispensations for this purpose begin- 



129 

ning with the creation of the world, and continuing 
until the time of the christian dispensation ; and 
also as containing the Prophecies^ the fulfilment of 
which are related in the Ne^ Testament, and make 
an important part of the evidence of Christianity. 
Its moral code, I apprehend too, is still binding up- 
on Christians, this having its origin in the nature of 
man and the essential constitution of things; but 
that its institutions and requirements, merely 'positive 
and ceremonial^ are no longer binding, these being 
in themselves adapted to the existing character of 
the Jews at the time they were ordained, which 
character no longer belonging to mankind, their use, 
and with it the insthutions themselves have ceased. 
The moral precepts and commands contained in 
the Old Testament will, I think, be found to be either 
repeated in the New Testament, or allusions made 
to them in such a way, as to imply that they are 
still to be considered rules of conduct. 

If the Old Testament could be proved to be a 
forgery, the JVew Testament must, I conceive, fall 
with it, because the events it relates are said to be 
^fulfilment of prephecies contained in the former, 
and allusions and references are made in the New 
Testament to the Old Testament. If, therefore, the 
New Testament contains a false representation, or is 
designed to create a false impression in a7iy respect y 
it cannot be the word of God ; who is only the God 
of Truth. ]But for this purpose, the Old Testa^ 



130 

merit must be proved to be a forgery by clear and 
unquestionable evidence ; and to do this, it is 
necessary not only to bring direct evidence against 
the Old Testament itself, but also to combat and 
overthrow all the different kinds of evidence by 
which the New Testament is supported, as miracles, 
the character of the religion itself, the lives and 
sufferings of its first preachers, &:c. The case, I 
apprehend, stands thus ; to disprove the Old Testa- 
mentj all the evidence in favor of both Old and New 
must be controverted ; but to disprove the JVew, 
only the evidence in favor of the New need be 
controverted. 

Apocrypha, 

Besides the internal marks to be found in the 
Apocrypha, of its being entitled to great respect, the 
circumstance that it makes a part of the sacred vol- 
ume is in itself evidence, I think, that it ought to be 
so regarded; for it is not to be presumed, that if it 
contained false statements, either in respect to doc- 
trines, morality, or history, in important parts, which 
are irreconcilable, with the received canon, it would 
have been treated with so much respect by the Jews, 
and made a part of their Scriptures. There may 
perhaps be some passages in it which appear irrecon- 
cilable with one another, or with parts of the received 
canon ; but I should doubt whether they were of im- 



131 

portance enough to destroy the authenticity of the 
books. Perhaps their apparent irreconcilableness 
may be owing either to the imperfection of language 
itself, to our ignorance of so^e important circum- 
stances, that might explain them, or to some cause 
subsequent in time to the writings themselves. There 
are many parts of the Apocrypha written in a style 
and containing matter which I cannot bring myself 
to believe would be found in forged writings. 

Pentateuch. 

The Pentateuch was probably written by Moses, 
partly by immediate inspiration^ and partly by tra- 
dition. The account of the creation probably in the 
former way, and the subsequent part in the latter. 
This is rendered probable in regard to the former^ 
from the circumstance, that the work of creation was 
in a great degree completed before Adam and Eve 
were made^ and therefore an account of this part of 
it must have been written under an immediate reve- 
lation of God himself, made either to Adam or some 
of his descendants. That it was not written by 
Adam, I infer, first, from the circumstance, that it 
never has been ascribed to him ; and secondly, 
from his probable incapacity to understand the 
manner of the creation, owing to the feeble de- 
velopement of his faculties, and therefore that he 
could not be made the subject of inspiration for 



132 

this purpose. I infer that it was written by Moses, 
because it was ascribed to him, and he, probably, 
living at a so much later period of the world, was ca- 
jpable of understanding the manner of the creation. 
That the subsequent parts of the Pentateuch were 
written by Moses from tradition, I infer from the 
circumstance, that the accounts grew more and more 
minute and full, as the period of them approaches to 
his time, which I think would not necessarily be the 
case upon any other supposition. 

Inspiration. 

When a book of scripture is said to be inspired^ 
it is, I conceive, meant, that it is to be regarded as 
the word of God himself that is, something to which 
he has set his seal, and given his sanction. Inspi- 
ration has been considered by some as relating to 
the matter only, and not to the language — by others 
to hotJi. But I conceive it relates to both, so far as 
that the language used must be such as is adapted 
to convey the precise idea, intended to be conveyed ; 
otherwise the very object of inspiration might be 
defeated, by an erroneous impression being made. 
I cannot conceive of inspiration of thought, without 
inspiration of language in this sense. 

Inspiration, strictly, in my apprehension, relates 
only to what may be called doctrines, precepts, pro^ 
phecies, and that portion of history, which the wri- 



133 



ter may have been employed to write, the materials 
of which were furnished him by the Deity himself^ 
and were not transmitted to him by human agen- 
cy, or the result of his own personal knowledge ; 
as is said to have been the case with the account of 
the creation given by Moses. Inspiration never 
relates to events or facts^ I conceive, which come 
within the observation or experience of the person 
relating them, or which he relates upon the authori- 
ty of others, in any other sense than this, that it is 
to be presumed that a person inspired for any pur- 
pose by God, and so selected by him, would be pos- 
sessed of judgment and discernment sufficient to 
enable him accurately to notice events and transac- 
tions, and faithfully and impartially to record them. 
And that an opportunity would be given him in the 
course of his providence by so ordering events, as 
to enable him to do it. Inspiration, in no other 
sense, can, in the nature of the case, be appHcable 
to facts, or be required for the object to be accom- 
plished by them. But as it regards doctrines, pre- 
cepts, and prophecies, it would be mpossible to dis- 
tinguish them from the mere deductions of the human 
mind or the dreams of imagination, and so as to be 
regarded as the ivord and ivill of God, unless 
we consider them as inspired, and so sanctioned by 
God himself. As it respects facts, where they are 
narrated by persons admitted to be inspired in other 
respects, the narration from this very circumstance 
12 



134 

must be allowed to have been correct^ as it came 
from the hand of the writer, in every respect where 
it is of any importance that it should be, as it can- 
not be supposed that God would permit any such 
false or erroneous statements to proceed from a per- 
son commissioned by himself. If, therefore, there 
should appear any such afterwards, they must be 
referred to some circumstance foreign to the writer 
himself as a subsequent forgery, interpolation, wrong 
interpretation, alteration, omission, or some other 
cause of this nature. 

As it respects them both, the Old and New Tes- 
tament, where a book is inspired at all, it is with the 
foregoing explanation, I conceive, inspired through- 
out, as it is impossible to believe God would allow 
errors of any importance to be propagated with his 
sanction. If, therefore, there should appear to be 
any disagreement of any moment between the sacred 
writers, which is irreconcilahle, it must proceed from 
some of the causes I have just enumerated, as for- 
gery, &;c. For it is in itself impossible, that differ- 
ent parts of the same system, and proceeding from 
the same source, viz, God himself, should be irre- 
concilable. I say the same system, for as it respects 
institutions and rules merely positive and ceremonial, 
these may, I apprehend, be entirely different at dif- 
ferent periods of the world, under different systems, 
as their use depends upon the existing character of 
the people, which will, of course, vary at different 
times. 



135 



LONGEVITY OF THE PATRIARCHS, AND CONFUSION OF 
TONGUES. 

In addition to the arguments given by Leslie and 
others in favor of the authenticity and genuineness 
of the Old Testament^ which to my mind are highly 
satisfactory, particularly the former, whose reason- 
ing I think admirable for its cogency and direct- 
ness, and in itself unanswerable ; there are two 
considerations which have occurred to me^ that go 
strongly to estabhsh the same conclusions, which I 
have not seen noticed for this purpose, by any of 
the writers, though it is possible they may have 
been. One of these is the longevity of the Pa- 
triarchs in the first ages of the world ; and the 
other is the confusion of languages^ which is said to 
have taken place at the Tower of Babel, 

As to the first of these, the longevity of the Pa- 
triarchs of the first generations of the world ; this 
circumstance is perfectly in accordance with what we 
should expect from the manner of the creation, as 
represented by Moses, who states, that there were 
originally but one man and one woman created, Ad- 
am and Eve, and that from them the whole race 
of mankind proceeded. Now this being the case, it 
was necessary, for two reasons^ that the life of man 
should be prolonged to a great duration in the 
first ages j one, that the population of the world 



136 

might be mvltiplied as fast as possible ; and the 
other, that while the human mind was in its infancy, 
and the arts of communicating knowledge, in any- 
other way than by oral tradition^ were unknown, 
they should have the advantage of the wisdom and 
experience which their ancestors of preceding gen- 
erations were enabled to accumulate in a long course 
of years. We, who live at this late period of the 
world, are enabled to avail ourself of all the discov- 
eries and attainments of past generations, by means 
of their written ox printed works transmittted to us; 
and these facilities for acquiring knowledge, are much 
more than an equivalent for the ahridgmeni of human 
life which has taken place. But in the first ages, 
when the arts of printing and perhaps writings were 
unknown, the cultivation and progress of the human 
mind must have been very slow indeed, even under 
the existing advantages of their great longevity ; 
and had it been reduced to the span which now 
constitutes our lives, would not have afforded them 
time to have proceeded much beyond making pro- 
vision for the satisfaction of their animal wants. The 
prolonged period of their lives, however, gave them 
an opportunity of acquiring by their experience, 
observation, and the divine communications, w^hich 
were made to them, a considerable fund of important 
knowledge, which they could communicate to their 
posterity and one another hy personal oral tradition. 
We all know, that the nature of the human mind re- 



137 

sembles a rolling snow-hall ; that in its first attempts 
at improvement, its capacity is enlarged very slowly, 
and the information it collects scanty ; but that by the 
exercise of its powers, this capacity continually in- 
creases, and the acquisitions it makes, grow more 
and more extensive and important ; and proceeding 
in this geometrical ratio ^ it becomes in time almost 
unlimited in its power of acquiring knowledge, and 
boundless in the field of its researches. Now ap- 
ply this remark to the antediluvians. Had they 
lived no longer than men do at the present day, from 
their limited researches and instruments of knowl- 
edge, they could in fact have hardly improved 
their nature at all, before they would have been call- 
ed to leave the world ; and their children, instead of 
deriving any advantage from the wisdom and knowl- 
edge of their parents, would themselves commence 
their existence under circumstances no more favora- 
ble than their fathers, and so no progress be made in 
cultivating iheir rational and moral nature. Each gen- 
eration woul I probably pursue precisely the same 
course with the preceding, and like the brutes that 
perish, make no alteration or improvement in their 
habits, mode of life, or in any other respect. But 
by their great longevity^ this difficulty was obviated, 
and an opportunity given them for improving their 
own nature, and that of their posterity. 

The second consideration is the confusion of 
LANGUAGES, which is said to have taken place at the 
12^ 



138 

Tower of Babel. I cannot, in this place, discuss 
this topic so fully, and so much to my own satisfac- 
tion, as is my wish ; I will, therefore, only attempt 
here to give, in general terms, the impression it 
makes upon my mind. In my apprehension there 
is no way of accounting for the multipicity of lan- 
guages^ as they now exist, and for so long a period 
have existed, except upon the supposition, that they 
had their origin in some supernatural act of power ^ 
or in other words, a miracle. I cannot myself con- 
ceive of the possibility^ that they were the work of 
the human mind. To this supposition, it seems to 
me that their multiplicity^ their dissimilarity^ and 
their systematic construction^ oppose insuperable ob- 
jections. If languages were merely the work of hu- 
man invention, and their boundaries were enlarged 
gradually, as the human mind became improved, 
human wants multiplied, and the stock of ideas re- 
quiring appropriate words to express them, became 
enlarged, they would, I conceive, have been as 
chaotic and heterogeneous^ as it is possible to 
imagine, without plan or symmetry. For the very 
supposition of such an origin precludes the possibility 
of any thing like system. Words being invented at 
the moment, to express a particular idea, could 
not, from the nature of the case, admit of being 
formed with reference to any system of language, 
especially such philosophical ones, as those now 
existing. They would be invented from the urgen- 



139 

cy of the occasion, to express a particular want, 
which it was found necessary immediately to com- 
municate, and any form of expression, which should 
first occur to the mind for this purpose, would prob- 
ably be adopted. Its adaptation to a regularly con- 
trived system of language, would never enter the 
head of the person first using it ; because from the 
infancy of his intellectual powers, he could neither 
have any conception of such a system, and there 
could not, by the supposition, be any language ex- 
isting, to which to adapt it. Language, then, form- 
ed in this way, by gradual additions, as the neces- 
sity of them should arise, would be as irregular, as 
wanting in method and order, as the different paths 
which the first settlers of a country would strike out 
for themselves, and for the same reason, the neces- 
sity of immediate accommodation, without reference 
or even thought of populous towns, arising in future, 
requiring regular streets^ laid out upon a systematic 
plan. This, in the case of language, as well as in 
the latter case, would be something that could not 
even be foreseen, and certainly not provided against. 
Language, then, originating in this way, and growing 
gradually, would necessarily become in time an 
immense mass of words, perfectly unmanageable, 
and such as would require the labor of a century 
to learn. For there would be no connexion or re- 
lation between its parts. So much for languages 
upon the supposition that they were originally the 



140 

work of man. But perhaps it will be said, suppos- 
ing even languages to have originally been contrived 
and constructed, without any method, order, or sys- 
tem, by man himself, would it not be possible, that 
they should afterwards be subjected to revision and 
remodeling ; and that in this way they should be 
made to assume that systematic form which they are 
seen now to have ? I answer no ; no more than it 
would be possible, after a city that had been built 
upon crooked and irregvlar streets, as Boston, to 
have those streets afterwards made perfectly straight 
and at 7'ight angles to one another. And for the 
same reason, the language is already in existence, 
as well as the city, with all its irregularity and want 
of system, and is not in its nature capable of being 
reduced to a system. And as it would be easier to 
make a new city in a new spot, with streets at right 
angles and upon right lines than to make an alteration 
in Boston which would give the streets there such a 
direction and shape ; so it would be easier for a 
community to make an entire new language, out of 
new materials, than reduce an old one to a system. 
And this I conceive impossible for them to do ; and 
even if it were possible, that it would be impossible 
to prevail upon a people to cast off an old language, 
and learn a new one, even supposing they were 
capable of doing it, which I conceive they are not. 
I do not believe the human mind is capable at once 
of contriving a complete system of language. If 



141 

these remarks are true, it will follow, that the diffe- 
rent languages in existence which are said to be en- 
tirely dissimilar in their structure and features^ and 
bear no appearance of having proceeded from what 
may be called a 7nother tongue^ (as is stated to be 
the case with the Hebrew, the Greek, and perhaps 
the Latin, by some Philologists who have analyzed 
these languages, and perhaps other languages not 
mentioned by them,) must have been originally pro- 
duced by the exertion of Divine power and wisdom, 
and probably originated at the time mentioned in 
Genesis, viz. at the building of the Tower of Babel. 
I do not mean precisely in the form, in which they now 
exist, but as distinct languages, built upon a regular 
system, which may perhaps since have been remodel- 
ed, and received additions and alterations, (some of 
which may have been the transfer of words from 
one language to another in a little different shape,) 
by the aid of human labor, to adapt them to 
the changing condition and character of mankind, 
but still retaining their main features, and original 
structure. In other words, I conceive the formation 
of any thing like a system of language, is something 
to which human capacity is in hself inadequate, and 
can be nothing more nor less than a miracle, or act 
of supernatural power ; and also that the casting 
off by a community of an old, cumbrous and undi- 
gested language, and the substitution of a new phi- 
losophical and systematic one in its place, whether 



142 

immediately or by degrees^ is something which, in 
the nature of things, could not take place by human 
means or agency alone. 

If it be asked, why this confusion of tongues, or 
creation of different languages, did not take place 
at an earlier period of the world, I answer, that it is 
probable, that the language then existing among men, 
up to this time, undigested as it might be, was suf- 
ficient for their wants, but that the Deity availed 
himself of this occasion, to give them new and di- 
verse systems of language, because they had arriv- 
ed at that stage of intellectual improvement, to stand 
in need of more perfect languages, than they had 
hitherto used, — and because these new systems 
could not have been received and used before, inas- 
much as they were formed with reference to a much 
larger stock of ideas than had hitherto existed 
among mankind, and so would have been inappUca-' 
ble to their condition, and also unintelligible by them. 

But at this period of the world, when the race of 
mankind had midtiplied so greatly, it became of 
importance, in furtherance of the Divine plan in 
reference to his rational creatures, that they should 
be separated into distinct communities, and thus, 
the earth be more extensively peopled, than had 
hitherto been the case ; and this probably could not 
be so well effected in any other way, as by render^ 
ing the communication of their ideas difficult be- 
tween different portions of mankind. He probably 



143 

chose this particular occasion for this purpose, be- 
cause by so doing he could effect two purposes, both 
deemed by him important in themselves, viz. the 
one which has just been described, — and also an 
infliction of punishment upon mankind for their pre- 
sumption diud folly in endeavouring to " build a tow- 
er, whose top should reach unto heaven," and as a 
restraint to them from future acts, so useless and 
frivolous in themselves. Thus accomplishing by a 
single dispensation, as many useful results as possi- 
ble, which always makes a part of the scope of the 
Divine economy, in the government of the uni- 
verse. 



REJECTION OF MIRACLES BY THE JE WS. 

One of the strongest arguments which has been 
brought against the truth of Christianity, is the lim- 
ited reception it had in the world anterior to the 
death of Christ. It is asked, if the publication of 
the Gospel was accompanied with such wonderful 
displays of divine power, as is represented, how 
was it possible for the Jews, among whom it was 
proclaimed, to resist this species of evidence ? 
They must all of them, both rulers and people, 
have been either witnesses themselves of these mir- 
acles, or received accounts of them so w^ell attested 
as could not fail to carry conviction to their minds. 



144 

How then dare they, as it were in very defiance of 
the power of Omnipotence itself, not only reject 
the system he revealed to them, but treat his Son, 
the messenger of it, with scorn and contempt, and 
finally put him to the ignominious death of the 
cross ? This is a seeming enigma in human conduct 
which justly requires explanation. 

The objection has, however, I conceive, been 
satisfactorily answered already. It has been said, 
that the manner of his making his appearance in 
the world, his lowly origin, the humble associates he 
then chose, his manner of life, the mode he selected 
for propagating his religion, its great novelty, both 
in precept and doctrine, the nature of the miracles 
he wrought, being in all instances acts of benevo- 
lence rather than an exercise of mere power, were 
circumstances so completely revolting to the expec- 
tations which the Jews had formed of their promised 
Messiah, that they would not listen a moment to his 
pretensions. They had formed in their own minds 
a certain standard, according to which they were 
determined to judge the claims of any one who 
should offer himself in this character, and if he did 
not conform to these he was to be rejected at once. 
His life and conduct, the code of morals he incul- 
cated, so admirably adapted to promote the happi- 
ness of mankind, the stupendous truths, revealed or 
confirmed, had no weight with them, when set in 
opposition to their own preconceived notions. They 



145 

saw in him all their hopes of national grandeur and 
conquest blasted at once ; and his religion, instead 
of promising them such temporal blessings as they 
expected, prescribed a course calculated to wound 
their pride, and produce, as its first consequences, 
severe mortification and suffering. Their prejudi- 
ces then, being strongly excited against him, by rea- 
son of the foregoing circumstances, they made eve- 
ry thing bend to them. His life and conduct they 
considered as mean and degrading ; his rules of 
duty as leading to pusillanimity and weakness ; and 
his miracles they w^ere either disposed to ascribe to 
natural causes, without any inquiry into their cir- 
cumstances, or to believe they were wrought through 
the influence of some demoniacal being, the exist- 
ence of which was a received opinion among most 
of them. 

The force of this national prejudice in Winding 
their minds to the powerful evidence of every de- 
scription which was afforded in attestation of the 
Christian system, is to us, living at the present time, 
almost inconceivable. But it is inconceivable, 
merely because it relates to another age, and to 
another race of mankind ; because we ourselves 
are not actors in these events, and can view them 
with the calm and impartial eye of disinterested 
spectators. But does not the conduct of mankind, 
even in the ipresent enlightened period of the world, 
present us with cases of obstinate prejudice and 
13 



146 

incredulity almost parallel to this? Do we not 
even now, under our own free system of govern- 
ment, where there is the most uncontrolled circula- 
tion of opinion upon every subject, see the senti- 
ment of the community and of individuals influenc- 
ed by the same causes ? Do we not observe the 
same narrow and selfish views operating upon the 
human mind, and the same determination to exam- 
ine every question of importance according as it 
shall effect our personal interest, and not upon 
its intrinsic merits ? Do we not notice oftentimes, 
individuals distorting facts, reasoning falsely and in- 
conclusively, and resisting the whole weight of evi- 
dence upon a subject, merely to gratify their person- 
al feelings, or promote their particular views : — 
and the same persons seeing the same set of facts 
in an entirely different Hght, reasoning in an entirely 
different manner upon them, and drawing conclu- 
sions entirely different, at different times, according 
as they are or are not favorable to their wishes ? 
They will not avow that such motives govern them. 
They will pretend the utmost candor and disinter- 
estedness, the most enlarged and liberal feelings. 
But this, though concealed, is in fact the secret 
spring which tinges their conduct and opinions. 
The instances are very rare in which persons have 
attained that complete mastery over their passions 
and desires, have subjected their moral and intellec- 
tual nature to that high degree of discipline, as to 



147 

leave the consideration of self entirely out of view 
in their conduct. Few, very few, have made 
themselves capable of such an act of self-denial 
and sacrifice as this course will require of them, to 
seek truth for its own sake, persuaded that this 
eventually will conduce in the highest degree to 
their own happiness; and that even the conscious- 
ness of being under the influence of such exalted 
motives, is of itself reward enough, for the effort it 
costs them. 

The annals of our national legislature will fur- 
nish us, I think, with instances enough of the opera- 
tion of this selfish principle. We have seen the 
same individuals at different periods of time pursu- 
mg an entirely different course of reasoning in 
relation to the same state of facts, and when they 
had become possessed of no additional information, 
and nothing has occurred which ought to change 
their opinion ; and this not from a conviction that 
they were wrong in the first instance, so far as 
can be judged from the arguments last urged by 
them, but when they were obliged to leave out of 
view their former train of reasoning upon the sub- 
ject ; when they did not attempt to controvert this, 
as ought always to be done when it is discovered to 
have been unsound, but to evade it and keep it out 
of sight. When such instances occur, what other 
conclusion can we draw, but that the individuals 
have suffered themselves to be influenced by some 



148 

motive extraneous to the real merits of the question? 
And if this is done in a matter of high importance, 
it will probably influence their conduct in other 
concerns ; the principle will more or less influence 
them in all their proceedings and opinions. 

We see, then, that the conduct of the Jews in re- 
jecting Christianity may be satisfactorily accounted 
for by the operation of those ])rinciples, which are 
known extensively to influence human conduct, and 
of which our own age and country afford some 
striking instances in relation to other concerns. 

But further, the national hostihty of the Jews to 
Christ and his religion was a circumstance convert- 
ed by Divine wisdom into one of the most power- 
ful kinds of evidence in its favor ', and also into 
one of the causes, which rendered them deserv- 
ing of those tremendous judgments that finally 
visited this blind and infatuated people. In con- 
sequence of this incredulity, the conduct of our 
Saviour was more narrowly watched than it would 
otherwise have been, and the force of his example 
in favor of his religion was more clearly made man- 
ifest. The very persecution to which he was sub- 
jected, was the means of bringing out those traits of 
character which he came into the world mainly to 
inculcate, and which constitute the pecuHarities of 
his life. 

His pretensions to miraculous powers too, became 
a more rigid subject of scrutiny, from the disposi- 






149 

tion which existed to overthrow them, and which, 
though it prompted to every expedient which mal- 
ice, aided by ingenuity, could devise to effect this 
purpose, utterly failed. Though the Jews would 
not admit, that the hand of God was visible in the 
miracles themselves, they could not disprove it, by 
proving the miracles false. These circumstances, 
then, together with the rapid propagation attending 
it through all the parts of the world at that time 
civilized, after the resurrection, are in themselves 
most conclusive evidence of it being what it claim- 
ed to be — a religion descending from God. 

The incredulity and barbarous cruelty of the 
Jews towards the Saviour of the world, though they 
were then suffered, and not at the time punished by 
the Deity, for reasons within the scope of his own 
wise counsels, and which we at this time can now 
clearly understand, met in fulness of time their just 
doom. The righteous decree of heaven, that pun- 
ishment shall sooner or later overtake crime, was in 
this, as it ever has been and ever will be in all cases, 
fulfilled, in a manner, and with a severity, commen- 
surate with its enormity. The Jews, as we well 
know from history, were subjected a short time af- 
terwards to the most dreadful calamities which could 
visit a nation, were driven from their country into 
all the habitable parts of the globe, and became, 
and have continued to be, a " by-word and a re- 
proach,'^^ among all the nations of the world. 
13^ 



150 



INTERNAL EVIDENCE OP THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW 
TESTAMENT. 

There is a very great variety of evidence of this 
kind to establish the authenticity of the New Testa- 
ment, as given by Paley, and other writers. But 
there is one consideration belonging to this kind of 
evidence, which I believe has not been noticed by 
them. It is that which is derived from the nan-ation 
of the fulfilment itself, and may be thus stated. The 
fact, that this book contains a narration of events, 
which, if admitted to be true, will appear to be a 
fulfilment of prophecies admitted to have existed 
long previous to the time when the narration pur- 
ports to have been written ; but still that it is not a 
literal fulfilment of these prophecies, or such a ful- 
filment at all, as was expected by those to be 
affected by it — and such as never would have 
entered into the human mind beforehand, to sup- 
pose would have been the manner of their ful- 
filment. In other words, a kind of fulfilment 
altogether opposed to previous expectation and 
existing prejudices, but still admitted to be a 
fulfilment, if the narrative is true. An impostor 
in relating such a fulfilment, would, to gain credit 
for his narrative, describe it in accordance with 
pubhc expectation, especially if this would be to 
flatter the pride and selfishness of the rich and 



151 

powerful. These remarks may be applied to the 
prophecies relating to Christ, and the manner they 
are described as being fulfilled by the Evangelists. 
It will be understood that I speak here merely of 
the naiTation of the manner, in which the prophe- 
cies are described as being fulfilled, and not of the 
evidence of such fulfilment as derived from oth- 
er and external sources ; as it is the internal evi- 
dence of authenticity, which is here the subject of 
remark. 



OBEDIENCE AND FAITH. 



Obedience may be defined to be a conformity 
to the will of those, who have authority over us, in 
whatever way this will may be manifested. In its 
object it may have reference to the Deity himself, 
or to those who, by the relations in which we find 
ourselves placed in this world, are invested with a 
certain measure of control over our actions ; as of 
a parent over a child, master over a servant, or civil 
rulers over the people, subjected to their govern- 
ment. 

I shall, however, in this article, confine myself 
entirely to a consideration of the obedience of the 
first class, viz, the obedience we owe to the Deity. 
We find that he has created us, with a nature at the 



152 

same time sensitive, intellectual, and moral, capable 
of its appropriate improvement and gratification, 
and destined, in another world, to an endless state of 
being. The manner in which we should cultivate 
these several parts of our constitution, is clearly in- 
dicated from their nature itself, taken in connexion 
with the objects which are designed to act upon 
them. To furnish us, however, with perfectly clear 
light upon the subject, we have, in addition to the 
instruction given to us by our reason, the lessons of 
his providence as w^e see it exercised over his mor- 
al creation, and the disclosures made by his reveal- 
ed will. These all concur in establishing the same 
great truths, viz. that we are placed in this world 
as in a place of discipline and improvement, to 
quahfy us for another, and that all the events of 
life are ordered and overruled for this purpose ; 
and that whether they be prosperous or afflictive, 
they are such as are designed and best calculated, 
with our existing character, to produce these effects. 
They all likewise teach us, not only what are our 
nature and destination, but also the particular traits 
of character, we are especially to cultivate ; the 
particular habits it is of most importance that we 
should acquire ; and what temper of heart we 
should be most careful to cherish. An illustration 
of the government of God is furnished us, not only 
from an experience of our own lives, but also from 
the lives of others, and from a history of past ages. 



153 

The duty, then, of obedience to God, as it maybe 
collected in this way, is, that we should act up to 
the end of our being, and make a suitable improve- 
ment of all his various dispensations, for this pur- 
pose. Besides, however the cases that come clear- 
ly within the instruction afforded us from the preced- 
ing sources, there are some to be determined by 
the exercise of another principle of our nature, I 
mean that of Faith. This principle is brought 
into application, in relation to those cases, where we 
are not possessed of sufficient certain information, 
nor able to procure it to enable us to determine of 
ourselves how to act. When we are so situated, 
there will always be sufficient indications of the 
will of God given, to influence those who attentive- 
ly watch the course of his providence, and are sin- 
cerely desirous of conforming themselves to it. 
And this principle of faith, when placed under the 
guidance of reason and discernment, will be found 
to be as unerring in its dictates, as any other of our 
nature. To a mind, which believes in a Providence 
superintending every event in the world, the most 
minute as well as the most important, and overruling 
all in their various connexions and consequences for 
the promotion of his own purposes, it will not be 
difficult, when under the influence of faith to per- 
cieve and understand their objects and meaning. 
And if a person is sincerely desirous of going right 
in such a case, he will not be suffered to go wrong. 



154 

For if he should in the first instance pursue a course 
not calculated to effect the designs of the Deity, he 
will meet with such obstacles and difScuhies, as will 
give him a sufficient warning that he is on a wrong 
track. His views will probably be frustrated. But 
if, on the contrary, he is taking those steps which 
will co-operate with the Deity, he will find such 
facilities and encouragement, as are of a nature to 
invite him to proceed. In this way he will be ena- 
bled to determine with unerring certainty, what is 
the will of Providence in regard to any given mea- 
sure. The principle of faith, however, in all these 
cases, proceeds upon the supposition that the indi- 
vidual is acting at the same time under the influence 
of reason, and sincerely desirous of discovering 
and doing his Maker's will. If he has bad purpos- 
es in view, he will have no indications of this kind, 
and the blame of pursuing them must rest on his 
own head. 

Obedience then to God, consists in obeying his 
will, in all the ways which have been described. 
The duty of this obedience arises not merely from 
the circumstance, that he has an absolute control 
over our condition, both in this world and the next, 
which will depend upon our obedience or disobedi- 
ence, but also that this control is in itself a rightful 
one, as having our happiness for its object, in what- 
ever way it may be exercised. If such a thing 
could even be supposed, as that the Deity should, 



155 

by the plan of his government, extending to this 
world and the next, intend to make the condition of 
his creatures, or any one of them, on the wholes 
that of misery, there would not, I conceive, be any 
foundation for an obligation on their part, to incur 
this misery by such an obedience to his commands, 
as was calculated to produce it. Because, I appre- 
hend, there is such a thing as right and wrong, good 
and evil, justice and injustice, in the nature of things 
themselves^ arising out of their very constitution and 
relations, aside from the idea of any power having 
control over them. It is then the fact, that God 
has created this constitution and these relations, and 
that his government is in conformity with this, their 
natural fitness^ that gives him the authority of a 
rightful sovereign, and makes it our duty implicitly 
to obey him. 

Our obedience to God, whenever we have indi- 
cations of his will, should be at the same time un- 
hesitating and unqualified ; and fear of man, or a 
regard to the estimation in which he may hold our 
conduct, should not be suffered for an instant to 
divert us from this duty. No other consequences 
should be dreaded, but the Divine displeasure, 
which will certainly punish any failure to comply 
with his requisitions. The Almighty arm will be 
made bare for our protection and support, when we 
are acting in obedience to his authority, and it will 
notbe within the compass of human power or contri- 



156 

vance to resist it. Strength and wisdom will be giv- 
en us from on high, which will enable us to surmount 
all difficulties ; and the arts and efforts of our enemies 
will be made to recoil on themselves with a force at 
once tremendous and overwhelming. This strength 
and wisdom probably will be given to us in such a 
manner, that the former will appear to be merely 
the ordinary operation of our physical system, and 
the latter to arise out of the ordinary operations of 
our own minds. And we shall probably be unable 
to distinguish them from these operations, except by 
attending to their effects, and bringing them in con- 
nexion with those circumstances which appear to be 
transpiring at the same time. These effects and 
circumstances may be perceived, perhaps, by the 
eye of faith alone, but the information obtained 
through this channel will be as satisfactory, and 
ought to constitute as much a rule of conduct, as 
information obtained in any other way. 

Mankind having now arrived at that degree of 
intelligence and discernment, which will enable them 
to infer the Divine will, from this principle of faith 
as applied to certain coincidences attending events, 
there will probably be no necessity hereafter that 
the Deity should accompany any of his intimations 
by miracles as such ; these, always in a certain de- 
gree interfering with the exercise and cultivation of 
human reason and not being in themselves calculat- 
ed to improve and perfect our moral nature; which 



157 

must be effected by a course of discipline^ gradual 
in its process, and fitted to the peculiar circumstan- 
ces of each individual case. 



ORIGINAL SIN. 



This subject, I apprehend, has been generally- 
misunderstood. One class of Christians has sup- 
posed, that in consequence of Adam's transgression, 
a taint was communicated to his nature, which be- 
came hereditary in his posterity, and was transmit- 
ted to each succeeding generation in the same way 
that physical resemblances^ or peculiarities of the 
original moral or intellectual capacity are transmit- 
ted. Another class are disposed to disown the 
doctrine altogether, and to believe that one genera- 
tion is in no way affected by the conduct and char- 
acter of their ancestors. Now I conceive both of 
these views of the subject incorrect. The true ex- 
planation of this doctrine, I apprehend to be this. 
Adam was created in a state of perfect innocency, 
but with a nature entirely free and accountable. If 
he had continued in a state of perfect innocence, as 
he might have done, and as it was the wish of his 
Creator and Father that he should have done, and 
proceeded in the cultivation and improvement of his 
powers of mind and body, as fast as his means and 
opportunities would allow, as they should be afforded 
14 



158 

to him by God himself in the course of his providence, 
he would, I apprehend, have been blessed with an 
immortal existence in the state in which he was pla- 
ced^ and would have been continually employed in 
perfecting his nature, and enjoying all the happiness 
necessarily consequent upon the progress he had 
made towards this end. And his posterity being 
educated under the influence of his example and 
instruction^ each perfect in its kind, v/ould have had 
all ihe facilities and external inducements to a life of 
virtue and holiness. As long then, as they should 
continue strictly io obey the commands of God, and 
sin be kept out of the world, so long would they have 
remained happy, and so long would their existence 
have been perpetuated. 

But the disobedience of Adam was produced by, 
and implied^ a corruption of his nature, brought up- 
on himself; and as soon as he became the subject of 
sin<f it became necessary that he should also be made 
the subject of punishment ; and GoA^ foreseeing 
that he never would recover the purity of his nature, 
nor his posterity, /or a long succession of ages, pro- 
nounced the penalty of mortal death upon them, as 
it would be impossible that this world should become 
a state of perfect happiness while it was the abode 
of sin. Since, while sin continued in existence, it 
would in its influence affect the condition of all 
mankind in a greater or less degree, as well those 
who were not the immediate authors of any given 



159 

transgression, as those who were ; and there is no 
possible way of preventing this effect. For this 
world then, to become a state of perfect happiness^ 
and so a state of endless existence^ it would be ne- 
cessary from these considerations, that sin should be 
entirely banished from it. 

The evil, then, which was brought into the world 
by the transgression of Adam and Eve, as I con- 
ceive, was the corruption of their own nature, 
which prevented them from imparting that pure ex- 
ample and instruction to their posterity, which they 
would have done, had their own natures remained 
uncontaminated. And the consequence of this 
was, that their posterity had to struggle with their 
own passions and propensities, subject to all the bad 
influence of the depraved conduct of their prede- 
cessors, operating upon them in this way. This 
influence may be illustrated in this manner : — Sup- 
pose a person to place a sum of money within the 
reach of another in a situation which promises 
probable security from detection, if it should be 
taken by him. Now, although the latter is, notwith- 
standing, perfectly free to take it or not, and if he 
does take it, commits a crime for which he is justly 
punishable ; still, if the money were not put within 
his reach, it would not be in his power to take it ; 
there would be no temptation and consequently no 
transgression. So I conceive it was with the 
transgression or the corruption of their nature, by 



160 

oux first parents. Though their posterity, notwith- 
standing the bad influence ot the former upon them, 
had it nevertheless perfectly in their power to have 
resisted it and continued in a state of perfect purity 
and happiness ; still by being exposed to this influ- 
ence, they became themselves sinful and corrupt 
also, v\^hen if they had not been exposed to it, they 
might possibly have remained in a state of inno- 
cence and virtue. The Deity, then, foreseeing this 
train of consequences, and not being able to prevent 
them, except by destroying the very nature of man 
himself, and so, on the whole, making it less produc- 
tive of happiness, than it would be, even subject to 
this disastrous influence of the conduct of one, up- 
on the character and condition of another, deter- 
mined to let this nature remain as he originally con- 
stituted it, subjecting it to his overruling providence, 
which should make it productive of as much hap- 
piness, and as little misery, as possible. 



REGENERATION AND CONVERSION. 

The opinion which has been entertained by some 
upon this subject, appears to me altogether irration- 
al in itself, and if acted upon, would be productive 
of mischievous, if not ruinous consequences to 
themselves and the whole human race This opin- 



161 

ion is, that no man can, by any efforts of his owriy 
produce a change in his moral nature^ but that this 
must be effected, if at all, by the immediate act of 
God himself; that the whole character, with all its 
views, feelings, habits, passions, and propensities, 
is at once changed by a supernatural act of pow- 
er, in which the subject of the change is perfectly 
passive ; and becomes a virtuous and holy being, 
without taking any part in the process by which 
this effect is produced,, or even understanding the 
nature of its operation. 

The common objections which are urged to this 
doctrine, that it is an impeachment both of the be- 
nevolence and justice of God that he should create 
that portion of the human race which are not to be 
the subjects of this miraculous change, and thus in 
fact to doom them from the beginning to a state of 
suffering and wo ; and that it is also absolutely 
destructive of the free-agency of mankind, and so, 
of their responsibility ; these objections, I shall not 
at this time enlarge upon, believing their nature and 
force already well understood. 

But in addition to these objections, which I con- 
sider unanswerable, it appears to me that the present 
state of things is, in itself, altogether ineocplicabh 
upon the supposition of such a doctrine. Why w^ere 
we placed in this world of trial and suffering, with 
a nature capable of sinning, and punishable for it 
by the consequences w^hich attend it, if all this suf- 
14* 



162 

fering and discipline are to have no effect upon oitr 
characters. Upon such a supposition, these are in 
themselves not only entirely useless, but a wanton 
and gratuitous infliction of pain. For if the char- 
acter of a man can be changed by an immediate act 
of Divine power, and must be so changed, if it ever 
becomes purified and holy, this act of power might 
as well have been performed at the moment of his 
hirth, as at any other time suhsequently, and upon 
all mankind as well as a part ; and in this way the 
whole race have always been created and continued 
perfectly virtuous and happy. There is no reason 
w^hy they should in the first instance have been cre- 
ated imperfect and capable of sinning, and that they 
should be allow^ed to go on sinning up to a certain 
period, and then, their nature should be entirely 
changed and they rendered no longer capable of 
sinning. Such a supposition would be an impeach- 
ment of the attributes of God in the same way, 
though not in so great a degree, as to suppose him 
to create any portion of the human family with a 
determination never to make them the subjects of 
this supernatural change, and so doom them, in ef- 
fect, to endless and inevitable misery. 

But it is also impossible to conceive of such a su- 
pernatural change, consistently with the nature that 
we know from experience that we possess. If we 
remain free-agents after this supposed change, w^e 
must still be capable of sinning, and in this way all 



163 

the advantage of it may still be lost. And if we do 
not remain free-agents^ we must be put under the 
influence of some controlling principles, whose 
power it will be impossible to resist, and thus made 
beings ^e\:kcx\j passive^ and so not exercising any 
agency in the formation of our characters, and our 
condition as consequent upon them. What such a 
nature can be, we can form no conception^ and 
therefore can have no evidence, that it is, in itself, 
possible. All the natures that we know any thing 
aboutj are those placed under the guidance of rea- 
son or instinct^ or the perfect intelligence and holi- 
ness of the Divine character. Such a nature as 
that supposed, would not come under either of these, 
as it supposes a knowledge of right and wrong still 
to continue, but with an inability to do wrong. 
Like a sixth sense therefore, it is something we can- 
not reason about, because it is something of which 
we can have no idea. 

The true meaning oi Regeneration^ as it is repre- 
sented in Scripture, and as is agreeable to the dic- 
tates of reason, I apprehend to be a change in the 
character produced by the individual himself by 
making a proper use of all the dispensations of God, 
whether in his Providence^ in his TVord, or in his 
Works, for this purpose. It is a resemblance to him 
in our whole character, so far as our sphere of action 
and the hmited capacity of our nature, will afford 
an opportunity for this resemblance. And it is the 



164 

design of the present state of things^ in all their 
parts and operations, to produce this resemblance ; 
and it will produce it, if we make a proper use of 
them. This account of Regeneration is not only 
perfectly consistent with the nature which we are 
conscious of possessing, di^ free and accountable be- 
ings, but with the system of discipline, trial, and 
punishment, as we see it going on in this world. 
It is also perfectly consistent with all the attributes 
of the Divine character, and such as we should sup- 
pose would be the result of their combined opera- 
tion. It makes every individual the author of his 
own destiny, and affords him all the necessary means 
and faciUties for making that destiny a happy one 
through eternity. 

So far from it being possible, consistently with 
the nature, which God has given to man, that he 
should, by an immediate act of his power, at once 
change this nature, there are cases, I conceive, 
where all the dispensations which he appoints for 
this purpose, are in this world utterly unavailing to 
produce the reformation of the transgressor, and 
when God finds this to be the case, he removes him 
from it, to be made the subject, probably in another 
state of more severe and dreadful judgments to 
work out the reformation and purification of his na- 
ture. We are so constituted, as to be almost en- 
tirely under the influence of habit ; which will be 
good or bad, virtuous or vicious, according as we 



165 

make a proper use of the dispensations of God, or 
abuse them to a bad purpose. These habits, upon 
which the character depends, let them be of what 
cast they may, will be continually gaining strength, 
so that we shall either be constantly improving in 
virtue and holiness, or declining from them. We 
can never be stationary^ but must always either be 
going forward or backward. It follows then from 
these remarks, that persons may in this world per- 
severe in a course of sin so long, in defiance of all 
the judgments which are sent to reclaim them, as to 
place themselves so completely under the dominion 
of bad habits, that the Deity himself cannot j by the 
course of his Providence Acre, reclaim ihem, and is 
obliged, in order to check their career of vice and 
impiety, and prevent the bad influence of their ex- 
ample upon the rest of mankind, utterly to destroy 
them. This, I think, is the explanation to be given 
of his conduct in the destruction of the world by 
the flood, and the burning of Sodom and Gomor- 
rah. If they had been suffered longer to continue 
in that state of abandoned wickedness, in which 
they were, they would not only, in the former case, 
deeply, and perhaps indelibly, have contaminated 
succeeding generations, and in the latter case, the 
rest of the world then existing; but the fact of their 
being suffered longer to survive, would have been 
an example of impunity, which would have weak- 
ened, if not entirely destroyed the reverence neces- 



166 . 

sary to be felt for the government of God by man- 
kind, and produced a want of confidence in his 
justice, and a contempt for his authority. It was 
better then for the world at large, whether viewed 
as embracing all future generations, or even that por- 
tion of it who were " dead in trespasses and sins," 
that the latter should, as they were, have been ex- 
terminated. 

These several acts of extensive destruction on the 
part of the Deity, afford evidence in themselves to 
my mind, that there was no other course he could 
pursue in order to prevent the extension of sin and 
misery among the race of mankind then existing, 
and succeeding generations ; since if there were any 
other way, whether by an act of supernatural power 
or in the ordinary course of his providence, he cer- 
tainly would have adopted it, rather than occasion 
such a vast destruction of human life ; and that 
instead of being able to reform mankind ?iXhis pleas^ 
ure, he has been frequently obliged to exterminate 
large portions of them, because he was not able to 
reform them. 

Conversion, as distinguished from Regeneration, 
I conceive may relate either to Faith or Conduct. 
In the former case, it means embracing a new sys" 
tern of religion ; in the latter, a change oi character 
from yice to virtue, sin to holiness, impiety to god- 
liness. In the first sense, or as it regards Faith, it 
may be either instantaneous or gradual ; instanta^ 



167 

neons, as the result of a conviction of the truth of 
the religion embraced, produced by some miracu- 
lous and supernatural means ; or gradual, as pro- 
duced by a slow and deliberate examination of the 
system itself. In the second, or as it respects Char- 
acter, it can never, I conceive, be sudden, or instan- 
taneous ; since by the very constitution of our na- 
ture, as has been before described, our character is 
made to depend upon habits, which when good are 
the result of a long course of discipline and trial, 
and when bad, of a perseverance for a considerable 
time in vice and corruption. A conversion, then 
to affect these, must be progressive, gradually un- 
dermining old bad habits, and supplanting them, by 
new good ones. No sudden change can by possi- 
bility take place, which shall make a man a saint, or 
a sinner, in the emphatic use of these words, at once, 
for no sudden change can destroy old habits, and 
form new ones, at once. 

When, therefore, a conversion is mentioned in 
Scripture, as having taken place instantaneously, it 
must be a conversion to a new System of Faith ; 
the embracing a new System of Religion. This 
was the case with Paul and Cornelius, who were 
converted to Christianity by the impression produ- 
ced upon them, from those supernatural appearances, 
which were made manifest unto them for this pur- 
pose. As it regards Character, it would appear 
from the narration itself, that they were both, before 



168 

this time, exemplary and strict in the observance of 
the duties, as prescribed by the system, under which 
they had been hving ; that is, that they both were 
men of unimpeachable moral characters agreeably to 
this system. The change therefore had especial re- 
ference to their system of faith or religion, and not 
to their moral conduct, as such, though the peculiar 
features of the new system would, of course, in time 
affect their character and conduct. 



DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT. 

The doctrine of atonement, in the acceptation in 
which it is received by some sects of Christians, is 
altogether at variance with the moral attributes of 
the Deity, and the great principles of benevolence 
and justice. The idea that reason and the Scrip- 
tures give us of the government which God is ex- 
ercising over his creatures is, that he has created 
them moral, intelligent, and accountable beings, 
capable of discerning between right and wrong, and 
with faculties which fit them for endless improve- 
ment in knowledge and piety — that he has placed 
them in the present state of things as a state of 
discipline and trial, calculated to call forth all the 
powers of mind and heart, and to strengthen those 
principles and feehngs, that will fit them for another 
and more elevated scale of existence. 



169 

Now, if the foregoing be the purpose of his gov- 
ernment, it is obvious that the laws, which he enacts, 
the penalties attached to their violation, and his 
manner of executing them, must be such as will 
have a tendency to produce these effects. They 
should therefore be such as are calculated to re- 
form the individual who violates them, restrain him 
from future infractions of them, or operate as a sal- 
utary example to others. This can be the only 
just and wise object of any system of laws, whether 
divine or human, and any one that is founded upon 
any other basis, or has any other end, must be 
intrinsically unsound. 

The only rational purpose of any law must be to 
produce the effect aimed at by the promulgation of 
the law, and not to secure an obedience to the law 
merely as such. When it is said, you shall not 
steal, or you shall not lie, the design of such a law 
is to compel people to respect the property of their 
neighbour, or to adhere to the truth ; and so far, 
and in the manner only, in which it is calculated to 
produce these effects, should these laws be execu- 
ted. If then it is necessary that the individual who 
has committed these sins should receive the punish- 
ment denounced against them in order to deter 
him from a repetition of them, it is just that he 
should receive this punishment. But if he mani- 
fest a disposition to repent and renounce them, and 
does, in fact, repent and renounce them, with- 
15 



170 

out suffering such infliction, it is altogether unne- 
cessary that he should be subjected to it. For 
punishment in such case would become but a 
useless infliction of pain, and an arbitrary act 
of power, occasioning suffering, without producing 
any beneficial effect. It would be, in fact, execu- 
ting the letter of the law, without any regard to its 
spirit or intention. 

This remark will not apply to human laws, be- 
cause the punishment must follow the crime imme- 
diately, and not be suspended to ascertain whefher 
the individual repents and reforms ; and the exist- 
ing order of things continuing to go on, it is neces- 
sary as an example to others, who might be en- 
couraged in crime, by the impunity of any trans- 
gression. And man not being able either to judge 
of character except by external acts, has not the 
power, as the Deity has, of determining whether 
the repentance is in itself sincere, and the reformat 
iion thorough and effectual. 

Now, the doctrine of atonement, as to one of its 
leading features, proceeds upon this hypothesis, 
namely, that all mankind having sinned, and there- 
fore broken the law, they are justly subjected to its 
penalty without any regard to their future conduct, 
and however heartily they may repent it. And 
however sincere this repentance may appear by 
their future life and conversation, still they must be 
punished for these violations of law. And in order 



171 

to save them from punishment, a substitute is intro- 
duced in the person of Christ, who is said, by his 
sufferings and death, to satisfy the requisition of the 
law and endure its penalties for the benefit of all 
mankind. It is obvious that such a system supposes 
that the law and its execution are altogether of a 
vindictive character, and as such must originate in 
a disposition of the same description in the author 
of it — that his object is not in fact the welfare of 
his creatures by punishing them only so far as is 
necessary to correct their errors, deter them from 
sin, lead them to repentance and reformation, and 
urge them to a life of holiness and virtue } but to 
inflict a penalty merely because the law has been 
broken, without regard to what is and ought to be 
the implied condition of such a penalty, — that pun- 
ishment should follow a perseverance in sin, and 
not where it is renounced and abandoned. Why 
punish a being after he has deserted the very course 
from which the punishment was intended to drive 
him, and after he is in the practice of the very vir- 
tues which this was intended to encourage ? Cer- 
tainly there can be no use and no justice in it. 

But the greatest departure from the principles of 
natural justice contained in this doctrine of the 
Atonement, remains yet to be noticed. If there is 
any salutary object to be accomphshed by punish- 
ment, it must be either from its operation upon the 
individual transgressing, or from its example in re^ 



172 

lation to others. In order to this, the penalty should 
be inflicted upon the a'iminal himself. But the 
doctrine of the Atonement proceeds upon the sup- 
position, that the punishment justly due to mankind, 
for the sins they had committed, was inflicted upon 
a being perfectly innocent of them, and of impec- 
cable goodness and piety ; and that in consequence 
of his sufferings, their sins were pardoned, and they 
released from the threatened consequences of them. 
Now what effect can such a proceeding have upon 
the character and conduct of moral and intelligent 
beings ? They see that instead of suffering the 
punishment due to their sins, and which might in- 
duce them to renounce them, the Almighty has 
contrived another mode of satisfying the law and 
its violated provisions, and has inflicted pain and 
suffering upon an individual in no way deserving it, 
but on the contrary, by his perfect purity and holi- 
ness, entitled to all the happiness which justly be- 
longs to such a character. What is this but con- 
founding right and wrong, vice and virtue, reward 
and punishm.ent ? making the consequences which 
should befall the one, follow the other, and destroy- 
ing all moral distinction ? What influence can it 
have but to encourage men in a course of vice and 
depravity, seeing that these do not necessarily lead 
to suffering and misery, but that God condescends 
in his providence to invent schemes to ward oS the 
threatened blow, and make void his own deuuncia- 



173 

tionis. What effect must a spectacle of this kind 
have upon the moral sensibility of mankind, to see 
an innocent being suffering for their crimes ? — must 
it not deaden their sympathies, shock their feelings, 
and blunt their consciences ? 

To put this doctrine to a fair test, let us suppose 
a human tribunal to proceed in the same way. 
Suppose a man convicted of the murder of his fel- 
low being, and sentenced to suffer death as the pun- 
ishment of this crime. Suppose then, that another 
individual, acting under the influence of ardent 
friendship for the criminal, voluntarily offers to suf- 
fer in person the punishment denounced against his 
friend, and to surrender his hfe to save him. What 
would be thought of the government, which should 
accept a proposal of this kind, and while it permit- 
ted an innocent and useful citizen to suffer an igno- 
minious and painful death, should let loose again a 
blood-stained miscreant upon society, to prey upon 
the lives and property of its members. Would not 
such an affair shock the feelings of every man in 
the community, and produce a burst of indignation 
and horror from one end of the country to the oth- 
er ? Would it not go to sap the foundation of all 
law and justice, and to fill all classes with appre- 
hensions of insecurity and destruction ? Would it not 
be fatal to the stability of the government, and intro- ' 
duce confusion and alarm in the place of confidence 
and order ? This would undoubtedly be the effect of a 
15* 



174 

single instance of this kind. How much more frightfol 
the picture, were this the settled course of proceed- 
ings, the uniform administration of the laws. No gov- 
ernment or community could exist under it. But if 
such deplorable consequences would follow such a 
practice under a human government, what is there to 
alter its nature when proceeding from the head of the 
universe ? The principle in both cases is the same, 
and as far as human reason can discover, the char- 
acter of the system, and its objects, though upon a 
more extended and elevated scale, are the same. 
What would be unjust in one case would be so in 
the other, and the same mischeivous consequences 
would follow from each. 

This is the view which enlightened reason pre- 
sents of this doctrine, and like every other view 
originating in the same source, is corroborated by 
the Scriptures. The doctrine is a device alone of 
man's making, fabricated in an ignorant and super- 
stitious age, fond of absurdity and jargon, and es- 
teeming any mode of salvation better than a life of 
practical virtue and sincere piety. 

The notions which have prevailed respecting the 
doctrine of Atonement, besides the sources just 
mentioned, have had their origin, I conceive, in the 
false views which have been entertained respecting 
the sufferings of Christ and his death. These suf- 
ferings, instead of being in any respect expiatory, 
that is, a cancelling of the sins of mankind by the 



175 

Buhstituiion of another being, who was made to en- 
dure the punishment denounced against them, were, 
I conceive, in themselves undergone both as a disci- 
pline by which his own character was improved and 
perfected, and also to furnish him an opportunity of 
exemplifying those parts of his system, which he 
came into the world mainly to inculcate, and which 
it was most essential for the welfare of mankind, 
that they should practise. And his death was suf- 
fered probably as an evidence of his own implicit 
faith in the Divine origin of his religion, of his own 
unqualified obedience to the will of his Father, and 
for the purpose of preparing the way for his resur- 
rection^ by which " Hfe and immortality were brought 
to light," and the seal set upon the character of his 
rehgion. None of these purposes, essential as they 
were, could have been accomplished, had not these 
sufferings and this death happened to him. And 
they were accomphshed in a way, which, while it 
was strictly compatible with human freedom on the 
part of his tormentors and murderers^ and for which 
they were, in due time, punished in a signal and 
terrible manner, at the same time was overruled for 
the fulfilment of the Divine purposes, in the great 
plan of the salvation of mankind. 

There has always appeared to me to be mistaken 
notions prevailing, respecting the manner in which 
the moral character of Christ was formed and pro- 
duced. The general impression seems to have been, 



176 

that he was created perfect in the first instance from 
his birth, and made naturally incapable of sinning. 
But if this were the case, besides having a nature 
different from any created being of which we have 
any conception, there could be no merit in any part of 
his conduct, since he must have been under some 
supernatural influence for this purpose, which he 
had it not in his power to resist. His conduct 
could not then have been at all voluntary on his 
part ; a choice of one set of motives over another ; 
but must have been forced upon him by his peculiar 
nature. He could not, therefore, have been an 
object of human regard or sympathy, nor his actions 
in any manner a subject for imitation; nor would 
they have been in any respect an illustration of his 
own doctrines and precepts. It would, therefore, 
have been of no use for mankind, for these purposes^ 
to have had such a Saviour. 

But I apprehend his nature was, in fact, like that 
of all the rest of mankind, liable to temptations, and 
capable of sinning, and the only difference between 
him and them, was in the nature of his office^ and 
the puipose he was sent into the world to accom- 
pHsh. His character was improved, I conceive, in 
the same way, by the same course of moral disci- 
pline and education, to which that of others is sub- 
jected ; and that there is no other way existing, by 
which a free and rational being can attain to a per- 
fect character. The sufferings to which he was 



177 

subjected, were severe in a degree extraordinary 
and probably unparalleled, and as a necessary effect, 
they both operated as a restraint from sin, during 
their continuance, and as a purifier of his character ^ 
by their influence. He was probably, too, under 
the influence of such a strong faith in the convic- 
tion that he was in truth the " Son of God," and his 
appointed representative and vicegerent on earth, 
and in the existence of his moral government over 
the universe, and the necessary connexion between 
virtue and happiness, that the temptations to sin be- 
came, as it respects him, from these circumstances 
in a great degree powerless. Whether he at any 
time ever did yield to temptation, and actually sin, 
is not mentioned, but there is nothing improbable in 
the supposition, that, in his early life, this might 
have been the case in some few instances, of a tri- 
fling nature ; and this without affecting at all the 
character which he finally attained. For the sup- 
position here is, that this character was not the work 
of the Deity, and given him at his birth, but of his 
own labors and sufferings, and as the natural result 
of them. And the conjecture, that he might, be- 
fore he had subjected his passions to a state of per- 
fect discipline and obedience, have, in some instan- 
ces, yielded partially to their influence, instead of 
being any injury to his cause, would have a tenden- 
cy to operate in its favor, by proving that he was of 
a^ nature like other men ; and that as he by his own 



178 

moral strength^ finally effected a conquest over him- 
self, rendered temptation powerless, and his passions 
entirely subject to his reason ; so they may, in the 
same way, obtain a similar victory, entirely throw off 
the yoke of sin, and make themselves '' perfect, as 
their Father in heaven is perfect." And this per- 
sonal experience of the suffering always consequent 
upon sin, even in the sHghtest degree, supposing it 
possibly to have thus extended to Christ himself, 
would have enabled him the better to have under- 
stood its malignant influence, and warned others 
against its indulgence. So that even what is an evil 
in itself, might, in this way, have been overruled to 
the production of good. 

The language used by the Prophet Isaiah in refer- 
ence to Christ, as that " he was wounded for our 
transgression, he was bruised for our iniquity ; the 
chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and with 
his stripes we are healed," &;c. and in the New Tes- 
tament, where it is said, 1 Peter ii. 24, ''Who his 
own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree/' 
&;c. is supposed by many to prove the doctrine of 
the Atonement, in the sense of a substitution. But 
I conceive their meaning to be very different from 
this. All that is meant by them, probably is, that 
by the sufferings he should undergo, he would be 
enabled to acquire that character which should be a 
suitable object for the imitation of mankind, and a 
conformity to which^ on their part, would be pro- 



179 

ductive of the highest degree of enjoyment to them 
both in this and a future world ; that in this way he 
would afford a striking illustration of the peculiar 
efficacy of the Christian doctrines and graces upon 
his own character 5 which, if adopted by mankind 
generally, would tend in the highest degree to exalt 
their character, and improve their condition, to re- 
deem them from sin and error, and " translate them 
into the glorious liberty of the sons of God." And 
finally, that by these sufferings and death, the Di- 
vine origin of his religion would be confirmed, which 
promised immortality to mankind, and a future life 
of endless happiness, as a consequence of embra- 
cing his gospel, and acting in every respect in obe- 
dience to its requirements. This was the plan of 
Divine benevolence for the salvation of mankind 
in pursuance of which, in a spirit of faith and obe- 
dience, he acted. And therefore, as a consequence 
of it, he might well be said " to be wounded for 
the transgression," of the world, as this was to be 
the means of its reformation ; and that " by his 
stripes it was to be healed," as this reformation and 
the future happiness consequent upon it, were to be 
the fruits in this way, of the sufferings to which he 
was to be subjected. And he may also truly be 
said " to have borne their sins in his own body up- 
on the tree," when his death was to be the confir- 
mation of his religion, by acting according to which, 
they would lose their sins, or become perfectly 



180 

purified and holy, and no longer be subjected to that 
suffering which is the necessary consequence and 
punishment of sin, both in this world and the next. 



THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

The strongest argument against the doctrine of 
the trinity is, that it contradicts the plainest dictates 
of human reason, and involves in itself propositions 
which are directly and utterly opposed to each other. 
One of these propositions is, that God is a single, 
independent, and almighty being, — the other is, 
that he is composed of three distinct persons or 
agents, united together in some mysterious manner, 
having but one will and consciousness, and together 
constituting the divine essence. Now these two are 
evidently contradictory propositions, and from their 
very nature destructive of each other. The mathe- 
matical proposition, that one and three are the same 
numbers, is not in itself any more absurd and revolt- 
ing to reason, than the assertion of both of the fore- 
going propositions at the same time, but precisely of 
the same nature and extent; and yet if we were 
called upon to give our assent to such a proposition, 
we should say at once, that it was impossible ; that 
the one in its very essence excluded the other and 
could not co-exist with it. And nothing which 
could be brought in support of such a proposition, 



181 

could or ought to induce us to receive it, for we 
should distrust any kind of evidence sooner than the 
light of reason upon a subject, the parts of which we 
perfectly understand, and which indeed we must 
understand before it can be made an object of be- 
lief under any aspect. If then we should think we 
find it revealed in Scripture, that one and three 
were the same mathematical numbers, we ought not 
to believe it, but should put any other possible con- 
struction upon the language, or suppose that this was 
a human interpolation sooner, or indeed resort to 
any hypothesis in order to avoid its admission. For 
human reason is the only guide we have for judging 
of the evidence of the Bible, and it is not possible 
that what is a rule and guide in the latter case 
should fail in the former. And if we can be re- 
quired to embrace, as an article of faith, any doctrine 
supposed to be contained in it, which clearly and 
undeniably contradicts reason, we can be required 
to suspend the use of this faculty in examining the 
evidence of the Scriptures themselves, and to be- 
lieve in their sacred origin and authenticity upon 
trust altogether. 

To this kind of reasoning, I know it is objected, 
and with some speciousness, that there are some 
truths, which are acknowledged by all mankind, 
that are entirely beyond our comprehension ; but 
that we do not allow this circumstance to form any 
barrier to our beUef of them. Such, it is said, is 
16 



182 

the eternity of God, past and future, — his omnipres- 
ence and omniscience, — the birth of a child, and 
growth of a plant, — the action of mind upon matter, 
&LC. These, to be sure, are facts within our knowl- 
edge and behef, and such as no one would think of 
disputing. But the plain distinction which exists 
between these and the doctrine of the trinity is, that 
the former, though beyond our reason, are not op- 
posed to it ; while the latter clearly is ; and this is 
the reason why we may beUeve one and should not 
the other. It is true the human mind is so imper- 
fect, that its powers are not capable of tracing the 
train of causes and effects which produce these nat- 
ural results ; or of understanding their operation ; 
and indeed, as it regards the eternity of God and 
his other attributes, of comprehending their full ex- 
tent. But in these cases there is nothing which 
contradicts ^nj pre-established and admitted truth 
in the mind, — nothing which requires us to disbe- 
lieve and believe too, at the same time, the same fact, 
— nothing which obliges us to confide in our reason 
and disregard it too, at one and the same moment. 
We believe in the eternity of God ; but the truth 
opposed to this, that he infinite in his existence, we 
never have beheved and are not called upon to be- 
lieve. We believe in the manner in which we are said 
to be born into the world ; but we are not called upon 
by our reason to beheve that we were born in some 
other way ; and so of all the other truths which are 



183 

said to be parallel to the doctrine of the trinity, and 
to receive our ready assent. As it regards ihe attri- 
hutes of Deity so far are they from contradicting 
any of the deductions of reason, that we are obliged 
to believe them by the very exercise of this reason, 
though we cannot be said to comprehend them. 
Take for instance his omnipresence, as we cannot 
conceive of any limits to the universe, so we cannot 
conceive of any part of it, which is not under 
the superintendence of an intelligent Being. And 
this superintendence being co-extensive with the 
universe, must necessarily imply a power and 
knowledge co-extensive with it, or in other words 
omnipotence and omniscience. The same train of 
reasoning will apply to his eternity^ past and future^ 
that we cannot even conceive of its beginning or end. 
There is a great difference in a doctrine's being 
beyond human reason and being opposed to it. 
The one we may and ought often to believe, — the 
other, from our very nature^ we cannot believe ; for 
I assert that it is impossible for any one to bel'eve 
at the same time two propositions which he perfect- 
ly understands, and which to his mind appear to 
contradict each other. And he m.ust understand 
them, or he cannot be called upon to believe them, 
since he must first understand what is meant by one 
being, and then what is meant by three^ or he can- 
not have any idea of the proposition, that this one 
and these three beings are the same ; and it would 



184 

be the same thing as requiring him to believe in 
mere language without any ideas attached to it. 

The doctrine of the trinity has been called a mys- 
iery^ and it may be said that it ought to be received 
as such, and embraced, although we cannot com- 
prehend it, and although it does appear to contradict 
the deductions of human reason. But I conceive 
the term mystery is misunderstood and misapplied, 
when it is used in application to this doctrine. 
Mystery, when it relates to doctrines in Scripture 
language, means, I conceive, nothing more than that 
they are not thoroughly understood and compre- 
hended by us, as in the case of all the attributes af 
Deity and the doctrines growing out of them in re- 
lation to man, — and when it relates to operations of 
the Deity or events, it merely means that the mode 
of operations, or the chain of events, is but partial- 
ly, or not at all known by us, — -as in the case of 
the growth of a plant and the other examples in re- 
spect to operations, — and as in the case of the 
'^ Mystical Babylon " in relation perhaps to events. 
When used in this last sense, it probably means that 
the design to be accomphshed by it, requires that it 
should be kept a mystery or should not be entirely 
unravelled, until the time arrives for the accomplish- 
ment of this design. But in no case I conceive 
does it imply a doctrine containing in itself proposi- 
tions contradictory in their nature, which mankind 
are required to beheve.. 



185 



MMITED RECEPTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 

The circumstance that Christianity has been pub- 
lished to but comparatively a small portion of man- 
kind inhabiting the earth, has been urged by its 
enemies as a strong urgument against its divine 
origin. To this objection, however, it has often 
been said in reply, and 1 think with irresistible 
force, that the same argument would operate against 
the whole system of the divine government in all 
its dispensations, both natural (so called) as well as 
revealed, since we find the same kind of inequality 
prevailing in the distribution of the blessings of the 
former, no less than of the latter, and this, both in 
regard to nations and individuals. 

But other and more direct replies may be made 
to these cavillers. And first, all the merciful dis- 
pensations of the Deity, of every kind, whether by 
direct revelation, or the usual course of his provi- 
dence, are in themselves strictly gifts^ or acts of 
sovereign grace. Existence and all the happiness 
attending it, flowing from whatever source, are un- 
qualifiedly acts of Divine benevolence^ Mankind 
have done nothing, and could do nothing to deserve 
them. In no way could they make them matter of 
actual right. It is true, blessings are ^ often prom- 
ised as rewards of certain characters acquired, and 
certain conduct performed, and are found to follow 

as the consequences of these. It is not, however, 
16^ 



185 ^ 

because this conduct and character constitute any 
claim to these blessings ; but because they furnish 
an occasion when the Deity can, consistently with 
his wise and benevolent purposes towards his crea- 
tures, confer them upon them. Their conduct and 
character are the condition upon which they are to 
be made the recipients of these blessings, and not 
as giving a claim, to them. 

The system of government pursued by the Deity 
over his inteUigent universe is in all its parts and in 
the most enlarged sense a paternal one, a system 
designed to produce the greatest amount of virtue 
and happiness. And whether he confers his bless- 
ings, natural or revealed, upon one individual and 
not upon another, and upon one nation and not upon 
another, the whole course of his providence is de- 
signed to effect this great end.. It is true, we caa- 
not see the reason of all his conduct, because we 
cannot see the connexion existing between all the 
parts of his system, nor discern the end from the 
beginning. This however is owing, in some de- 
gree, to the imperfection of our faculties, and in 
some to our own voluntary blindness ; a bhndness 
produced by wilful ignorance and sin, on our part. 
We may rest assured, however, that the Judge of all 
the earth will do right, though the manner and the 
means may not at present be understood by us. 

On the score of strict rights all that mankind can 
claim of their Creator^ is that the existence he has 



187 

given them, when considered in the whole extent of 
its duration, as relating both to this world and the 
next, shall be intended as a blessing to them, and 
not that it shall ^roi;e to be one. And it is intend- 
ed to be a blessing to them, and will prove to be 
one, if they make a proper use of the dispensa- 
tions of his providence, as he shall see fit to order 
them, according to the exercise of their right rea- 
son and the light furnished by his revealed will, 
where it has pleased him to make it known. The 
existence of no one, in this point of view, will be 
miserable except through his own fault, and he will 
have no one to blame but himself. So long as a 
man continues in any degree sinful, so long he w^ill 
be made the subject of such dispensations, as are 
best calculated to reform and perfect him, while 
any hope of affecting this object remains, both in 
this world and the next. And the kind^ degree^ 
and duration of punishment, either here or hereafter, 
will be such probably as is adapted to the character 
of the individual and the object of all punishment, 
viz* to operate as an example to others, and 
the reformation of the individual himself. In some 
cases it may and probably will be terrible^ both in 
duration and degree, because punishment of no 
other sort will be hkely to effect the object intended 
by it. In all cases, however, it will be seen to 
be just and merited, by the subjects of it them- 
selves, and in strict consistency with all the Di- 
vine attributes. 



188 

Again, another reply may be made to the objec- 
tion of the hmited publication of Christianity, and 
which will satisfy us, that mankind, instead of ar- 
raigning the Deity himself, are alone in fault that it 
has not been more extensively spread. In former 
articles I have often shown that in the whole course 
of his government from the beginning of time to the 
present moment, and so on through all eternity, the 
Deity made it a part of his plan, in all cases to treat 
mankind as free^ morale rational^ and accountable 
beings ; and that all his dispensations have been 
made, and all the results of them produced, with 
especial reference to this nature given by him to 
them, and so that in no instance it should be violat- 
ed or contravened. 

From the infancy of man to the present period 
of the world, in the whole course of his providence 
towards him, he has had regard to his then existing 
character and condition. In the beginning, when 
mankind had made but small progress in knowledge, 
when their faculties were but feebly developed, and 
their reason dim, he was pleased to accompany the 
communication of his will to them, by such manifes- 
tations of his power in the miracles he wrought, as 
would produce a striking impression upon their sen- 
ses ; because at that time they were chiefly under 
the dominion of these, and could be convinced in 
no other way. And it is for this reason, I con- 
ceive, that miracles of this description are related in 



189 



the Old Testament to have been so frequently 
wrought. They required immediate and frequent 
direction from Heaven of the course they were to 
pursue, and could from the imperfection of their 
reason receive this direction in no other way. Such 
was the character of the people at the time of Mo- 
ses and Aaron, and such were the miracles which 
God wrought by them. 

In later ages, as at the time when Christianity 
was first promulgated, mankind had made great 
progress in learning and science, and in the cultiva- 
tion of their reason. They were then fitted to re- 
ceive a new revelation from heaven, communica- 
ting new and important truths, or confirming old 
ones in a new way ; and giving them a code of mor- 
als of a higher and purer standard than they had 
hitherto received directly from God or would ac- 
quire by the exercise of their reason. And this 
revelation was attested by miracles of a species en- 
tirely different from any former one, being of a 
more moral and benevolent character, and in them- 
selves intended and fitted to improve their moral 
nature. This evidence arising from these miracles 
in favor of Christianity as well as all the other evi- 
dence of every kind, were both addressed to the un- 
derstanding and designed to operate upon the feel- 
ings, and such as was suited to every grade of intel- 
lect and characterj and every period of the world. 



190 

The Deity, by reason of the plan of his govern- 
ment over his creatures, never sees fit to deviate 
from the usual course of his providence, and work 
miracles, except when the object intended to be 
effected, cannot be effected in the former way. 
For if these were wrought frequently and in other 
than under extraordinary circumstances, they would 
either interfere with the intellectual nature of man 
by leaving no scope for the exercise of his reason, 
and with his moral nature by stifling with an irre- 
sistible force all his passions and affections ; or else 
they would fail to make much impression and lose 
their effect from their frequency, and be no longer 
distinguishable from the usual course of events. 
Miracles are never wrought with a view of improv- 
ing the moral and intellectual nature of man, since 
they are not in themselves fitted as means for such 
a purpose, but only to attest some communication 
from the Supreme Being, or as another and more 
striking mode of displaying his attributes. Our 
moral and intellectual nature must be improved by 
that gradual process of education and discipline, 
which are in the nature of things, as it is constitut- 
ed, adapted to this purpose. 

With the foregoing explanation, we can readily 
understand how it is, that the condition of some 
parts of the world and some periods of time, both 
in a religious and civil point of view, has been so 
much more advantageous than of others ; how it is 



191 

that some nations are blessed with a higher degree 
of civilization and refinement, and goverments of a 
more liberal character than others; and how it is 
that one region is enhghtened by the divine rays of 
Christianity, while another is obscured by pagan 
darknes. It is because these [nations and periods 
of time have differed in their intellectual and moral 
character ; and while some have attained to that 
degree of advancement as to render them fitted for 
the reception of these blessings, others are incapa- 
ble of receiving them on account of their degraded 
condition. Just as fast as mankind become capa- 
ble of living under a free system of government, just 
so fast will the Deity, in the ordinary progress of 
events, and by his accustomed means, bestow it 
upon them ; and just as fast as by their advance- 
ment in civilization, they become capable of under- 
standing the nature of Christianity, and governing 
themselves by its principles, just so fast will its fight 
be imparted to them. But to bring them to this con- 
dition, and give them this fight, we must not expect 
miracles to be wrought, and if they were wrought, 
they could not effect the purpose, since miracles 
could not at once give mankind that intellectual and 
moral advancement that are necessary for the com- 
prehension of the truths of Christianity and the reg- 
ulation of the conduct by them. This must be ef- 
fected, in part^ by the benevolent exertions of that 
portion of mankind who now enjoy these advantages. 



192 

In this way they will perform a duty which Provi- 
dence enjoins upon them by the clearest indications, 
and in this way will they second his benevolent 
purposes. 

That mankind are not more improved in their 
condition, in every portion of the globe, is either 
their own fault, or the fault of their more civilized 
neighbors, or both, and a neglect for which they will 
be held as much accountable as for other omissions 
of duty. As they freely receive, so ought they 
freely to give ; and unless they do, they will be the 
objects of divine displeasure and punishment. The 
world is purposely so constituted, that the condition 
of all, whether as individuals or nations, depends 
very much upon one another, and as we would 
have our own happiness increased by the benevo- 
lent regard and efforts of others, we should in our 
turn be willing to bestow this regard and make 
these efforts for their benefit. 

The attempt to introduce Christianity into hea- 
then lands has been condemned as savouring of the 
spirit of pf^oselytism, which, it is said, is forbidden 
in Scripture. But this term is altogether misun- 
derstood, when applied in this way. The prosely- 
iism which is there forbidden, is the attempt to 
force upon mankind those creeds and dogmas which 
are the invention of men, and are clothed in human 
language ; and which are not to be found in the 
word of God. It is the attempt to make them re- 



193 

ceive as his revelation, doctrines which are not to 
be found in the scriptures, and which are opposed 
to the clearest deductions of human reason — doc- 
trines which are entirely subversive of other doc- 
trines, which are admitted to be taught in the Bible, 
It is the attempt to force upon the mind certain 
opinions, not because they are supported by a para- 
mount weight of evidence, and recommend them- 
selves to the human understanding, but upon the 
ipse dixit altogether of the persons entertaining 
them. This is and can be the only way in which 
the term proselyting can be used as a term of re- 
proach. It is certainly as proper to endeavour to 
obtain converts to Christianity as it is revealed in 
the Scriptures, by addressing the enlightened rea- 
son of men, leaving them free to embrace or reject 
it, as they shall, upon a thorough investigation of its 
evidence and doctrines, be satisfied of its Divine 
origin, as it is to endeavour to obtain converts to 
any new system in the natural or abstruse sci- 
ences. And the same means may and ought to be 
employed in the one case as in the other. And as 
the former is of inlGinitely greater importance in re- 
lation to the present and eternal welfare of man- 
kind than the latter, so ought the effort to dissemi- 
nate it, to be prosecuted with much greater zeal and 
industry. Every means which pan be fairly appli- 
ed to this object, ought to be used, and the whole 
soul and energy of the human character put in re- 
17 



194 

quisition for this purpose. Societies for the dis- 
semination of the Scriptures and religious tracts cor- 
responding with them, and for sending abroad Mis- 
sionaries for this purpose, ought to be extensively 
formed and encouraged ^ and individual bounty- 
should flow largely into this channel of benevo- 
lence. Public attention ought; in every possible 
way, to be called to this subject, and the interest of 
individuals strongly excited in its behalf. It is time 
that mankind should be made to know and feel 
that Religion is the great concern of the human soul, 
and that every thing else is comparatively insignifi- 
cant and useless ; that upon this not only their 
present welfare, but their future destiny, hangs sus- 
pended. Thi§ life is intended merely as a prepara- 
tion for another and an eternal one, and it is quite 
time that this truth was felt in all its powerful reality, 
and had all the influence which it so pre-eminently 
deserves. 



HABIT. 

We are so constituted in our nature, that the 
characters we form will depend upon the habits we 
acquire. These habits relate to the manner in 
which we exercise the faculties and powers, whether 
moral, intellectual, or physical, with which we are 
endowed ; and may be good, as being a proper 



195 

use of these faculties and powers both in regard to 
themselves and one another — or bad, as being a 
perversion of them, or suffering one or more of 
them to interfere with the exercise of the rest. A 
good habit consists in their exercise upon proper 
occasions, with proper objects, and within proper 
bounds ; a bad habit, the reverse of any or all of 
these. 

The design of the Deity in creating man origi- 
nally, and placing him in this world, was to promote 
his improvement and happiness by furnishing him 
with such means and opportunities as should, if prop- 
erly used, lead to habits in themselves good in every 
respect. Adam and Eve w^ere placed in the Gar- 
den of Eden, which I consider as only descriptive 
of a state, where the earth was made spontaneously 
to yield all those productions which were necessary 
for their sustenance, comfort, and gratification, with- 
out any labor on their part, or only so much as 
might afford them an agreeable relaxation and pas- 
time. The great object of God in the creation of 
man was the cultivation of his moral and intellectu- 
al nature ; and had man continued to devote him- 
self to these great objects, instead of deserting 
them, by wandering into the paths of sin and error, 
his life would have been so ordered, that a princi- 
pal part of his time might have been spent in occu- 
pations conducive to these results, and a small part 
made sufficient for the supply of his animal wants. 



196 

But when he had corrupted his nature, and was 
employed in abusing instead of improving his fac- 
ulties, it was found necessary by his Creator that 
he should be subjected to such unremitting toil and 
labor as should afford him as little opportunity as 
possible for making further progress in depravity, 
and should at the same time operate as a discipline 
to reclaim and restore him to his former rank. 
He was therefore condemned to " eat his bread by 
the sweat of his brow." And in addition to this 
sentence, all those natural evils were let loose upon 
him, which it wdiS foreseen his own moral degeneracy 
and that of his posterity, would make necessary for 
the correction and purification of their natures. 
And this life of toil and hardship^ and these natu- 
ral evils, were no doubt to be contiued so long as 
the race should require them for the purposes in- 
tended, that is, until they should be restored to their 
pristine innocence, and sin be banished from the 
world. Whenever this shall be the case, I think 
there can be no doubt, man will be restored to his 
original condition — ^that the earth will again be 
made to yield with but little labor a supply for his 
wants — that the seasons will be so ordered, as to 
produce certain crops — and that all those evils, 
whether springing from the operations of the mate- 
rial world or in any other way, will cease, as being 
no longer necessary for any useful purpose. Every 
thing will be so arranged in the divine economy, as 



197 

to allow mankind to pursue without hindrance or 
molestation the original object of their creation, viz. 
the improvement and perfection of their nature. — 
But this cannot take place to its full extent until the 
world is entirely purified from sin in all its forms, 
whether in thought, word, or action, — and as fast 
as it makes approaches to this state, will probably 
be seen this renovation in the maternal world, and 
in the condition of man. To this state the '' sure 
word of prophecy " directly points, and it will there- 
fore certainly Arrive, at some time or other — it may 
be soon, or it may not be immediately. As to this, 
we are left to conjecture ; God only knows. 

As mankind may become so confirmed in bad 
habits as to render it impossible that the Deity him- 
self should reclaim them by any dispensations or 
punishments which the state of things in this world 
will allow — as was the case with the world before 
the flood, with Sodom and Gomorrah, and is pre- 
dicted in " Revelations" will be the case with thd' 
Mystical Babylon, — so they may also become so 
confirmed in good habits, as to be no longer within 
the reach of temptation to sin — when virtue will 
become so lovely, and sin so odious — when the 
path of duty will appear so easy and pleasant, and 
that of transgression so perplexing and disagreea- 
ble, that it will require more effort to do wrong, 
than right ; and it will be as difficult to persuade 
men to indulge vicious inclinations, as it has been to 
17* 



198 

restrain them from them. This is wo fanciful picture ; 
it is the necessary result of the power of habit as 
belonging to om- nature and making a part of it, — 
and the object of every day's observation, in a 
greater or less degree, according to the force of 
habit. 

The experiment of the beauty of virtue and the 
perfection it would give to the condition of man- 
kind, has never yet been fairly made, and all rea- 
soning from the effects it has hitherto produced 
upon the happiness of society, is in itself deceptive 
and unsatisfactory. Sin has not only impaired the 
well-being of those w^ho have been the authors of 
it, but has also materially affected in its conse- 
quences that of others who had no agency in it. — 
Its hateful beams have been reflected upon those, 
from whoi I they did not emanate, and covered 
them also with its murky glare. To give virtue its 
full lustre and benign influence, there must be a 
cloudless sky, and then the glory and the softness 
it will throw upon the landscape will clearly be per- 
ceived. Every object will brighten beneath its 
cheerful radiance, and not only receive, but give 
back also, its due measure of light and warmth. 
The world would again be made a Paradise, and 
the race of mankind once more, indeed, and in 
truth, become the " Sons of God." — Each one 
should do all that is in his power to produce this 
moral renovation, and thus assist to bring on those 



199 

halcyon days, when " the wilderness, and the soli- 
tary place shall be glad for them, and the desert 
shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." ^ 



MATTHEW XIX. 24. 



" It is easier for a camel to ^o throujajh the eye of a needle, 
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." 

This is a passage which has perplexed many 
minds, and been the source probably of a good 
deal of anxiety and pain ; but it admits of a very 
easy and satisfactory explanation. It proceeds al- 
together upon the power of habitj as belonging to 
our nature, and is the necessary result of it. As 
the kingdom of God, or of Heaven, is designed to 
produce the highest happiness of which our nature 
is capable, by furnishing suitable objects for the 
exercise of our moral and intellectual powers — it is 
evident that this happiness cannot be enjoyed, unless 
those habits of mind and heart are formed, which 
will prompt men to seek these objects and engage 
in these pursuits. Now by a '* rich man," is here 
meant, a person whose whole or principal attention, 
desires, taste, and employment have relation to 
the accumulation of property — who makes it the 
sole and engrossing business of his life ; and not to 
* Isaiah xxxv. 1. 



200 

one who happens merely to be in possession of a 
large property. And with this explanation the af- 
firmation is evidently true. For a person whose 
whole time is employed in acquiring property, will 
by so doing form an attachment to it, which will en- 
gross his whole soul — his habits and his taste will 
all have reference to it, and depend upon it for 
their gratification. He will necessarily neglect the 
cultivation of his moral and intellectual nature, and 
of course, to form those habits upon which this cul- 
tivation depends. Now as the joys of Heaven con- 
sist in the exercise of the latter class of habits by the 
means and opportunities which will be furnished for 
this purpose, it is plain, that those who have not 
these habits cannot participate in these Joys, And 
therefore those who receive all their happiness from 
earthly riches, will be necessarily incapable of en- 
tering the kingdom of God or of Heaven, so long 
as this continues to be the case — that is, so long as 
they remain under the dominion of these habits. 
But it will be asked, is not the acquisition of 
wealth, as an employment, a condition intended for 
man by God himself, by placing him in a state of 
things, where the opportunity is afforded, and the 
means present themselves ? I answer, No. He 
was placed in this state of things, to enable him to 
make a suitable provision for his own wants and 
those of others dependent upon him, and to operate 
in itself as a salutary discipline ; but not to create 



201 

a relish and habits depending for their gratification 
upon the acquisition of property alone. When 
carried to this extent, it becomes not only a perver- 
sion of the desire, good^ in itself when properly re- 
strained, but also interferes with all the other and no- 
bler principles of our nature, and deprives men of 
their higher and more enduring pleasures. And it 
is the object of God, in those calamitous dispensa- 
tions with which he sees fit often to visit the rich^ as 
disappointment of their plans, destruction of their 
property, sickness, or any other events which are 
denominated misfortunes, to destroy this extrava- 
gant relish for property, and break up these un- 
natural and engrossing habits, in order that better 
and wiser ones may be formed. These afflictive 
dispensations do not always succeed in effecting the 
object, because men are oftentimes so perverse that 
they will not forsake their old habits and occupa- 
tions in any degree, notwithstanding all such warn- 
ings and chastenings, but recklessly persevere in 
them. When this is the case, they are, when all 
other measures have failed, removed to a w^orld, 
where it is probable, a new series of dispensations, 
more powerful in their nature, will await them, in 
order to produce that character and those habits 
which the events of this world have failed to pro- 
duce — and which must be acquired before they can 
enter into the kingdom of God, or in other words 
enjoy that happiness j for which our nature was ori- 
ginally intended, and is in itself fitted. 



202 

The same course of remarks may be applied to 
fame, power, pleasure, or any of those pursuits 
which are apt to engross the attention of men. 
All within proper limits and for proper purposes 
are reasonable objects of desire, but beyond these, 
they become evils which unfit men for the highest 
enjoyment in this world, and all enjoyment in any 
other, for there can be no objects upon which such 
desires can operate in any other world. 



GRACE AND WORKS. 



By grace, I understand strictly a gift, and the 
sense in which this term may with propriety be 
used, will comprehend, in reference to the Deity, in 
an enlarged view, all the blessings of every kind 
which are by him bestowed upon us. Thus exis- 
tence itself, our faculties of mind and body, all the 
objects of these facuhies, and indeed every thing, 
which in any way contributes to our comfort and 
happiness, in this world or another, may be called 
acts of his grace or gifts. This is the enlarged 
sense of this term. But as it is used in Scripture 
in contradistinction from works, it has a more ciV- 
cumscribed meaning. It then has reference to the 
immortal nature conferred upon man, and the hap- 
piness which will attend this nature on certain con- 



203 

ditions. This nature and this destination are in 
themselves acts of grace, as not being an equivalent 
or recompense bestowed upon us for any benefit 
rendered by us, but as flowing from the infinite be- 
nevolence of the Divine nature. It is in this way, 
that we are said to be saved by grace. 

Works, as they are spoken of in the Scripture, 
mean, that improvement of the dispensations of God 
as they are manifested in his Word, his Providence, 
and his Works, which will furnish us with such 
characters as are in themselves calculated to make 
us happy, and without which it will be impossible in 
the nature of things, that we can be happy in 
any circumstances in which we can be placed. 
Such a character then, being the result of works^ 
thus explained, and constituting an indispensable 
qualification for happiness either here or hereafter, 
we are also said to be saved by works. 

Now there is nothing inconsistent in this view of 
the subject. We can conceive that we might have 
had the gift of eternal life, without any particular 
character being required of us, that is, without 
ti;orA:5, but then this life could not be attended with 
happiness, any more than a person could receive 
gratification from a sumptuous dinner, who should 
sit down to it without any appetite, or with an antip- 
athy to all the dishes that might be on the table. 
And on the other hand we might acquire such a 
character by means of works, as would fit us for 



204 

immortality and still not have the promise of eternal 
life. And as in the former case we could not be 
saved by grace alone, so in the latter, we could not 
be saved by works alone. It follows then, that if 
we are saved, that is, if we are made happy through 
eternity, it must be both by grace and works. 

As an illustration of these ideas, I will take the 
case of an earthly parent. He expends, perhaps, a 
large sum of money in providing his children with 
clothes and food, and in giving them an education, 
promising to place them in some very advantageous 
situation, provided they will qualify themselves for it 
by the means he is giving them. Now all this ex- 
penditure of money, and all the other measures, he 
takes for this purpose, are in themselves ^i/i^ or acts 
of grace. The use which his children make of them, 
in qualifying themselves for this situation on their 
part, is works. And it will readily be seen that all 
the acts of the parent's grace without the children's 
works would not enable them to occupy x\\e promised 
situation with honor or happiness to themselves. 
And so, also, the children's works, if they are not 
placed in the supposed situation, will become, as re- 
spects this, useless. They must both be combined, 
in order to produce that agreeable and desirable 
condition, which they are supposed to be intended 
to produce. The promise on the part of the parent, 
and the means and opportunity he affords his chil- 
dren to make themselves qualified to receive his 



205 

gift or act of grace, spring from his affection for 
them, and the happiness he derives from their im- 
provement and welfare. So it is, I conceive, with 
the Father of the whole human family. His benev* 
olence prompts him to desire and promote the pres- 
ent and eternal welfare of his children, and his hap' 
piness is increased by their attainments in moral and 
intellectual improvement, and their progress towards 
perfection. Unless this be the case, we can sup- 
pose no motives (and we cannot conceive of any 
being acting without motives), which should have in- 
duced him to create and preserve ihem, and afford 
them all their capacity and means of happiness, 
any more than in the earthly parent, without sup- 
posing a love for his offspring, and happiness deriv- 
ed from their welfare. The same kind of feeling, 
I conceive, operates in both cases, though in the 
former in a more enlarged, purified, and disinterested 
sense than in the latter. 



PRAYER. 

Prayer, in reference to the persons who are the 
subjects of it, relates either to ourselves or others. 
When the persons praying, be they one or more, 
are imploring blessings upon themselves, it is not, I 
conceive, at all difficult to understand in what way 
18 



206 

their prayers may be effectual ; that is, how the bless- 
ings prayed for may follow their prayers, when they 
would not have been bestowed without them. It is 
true, the Deity knows before we ask him, what is 
hest for us, and did foreknow it from all eternity ; 
but whether it be hest for us, will depend upon our 
condition and character^ and those of the persons 
dependent upon us ; and this character and condi- 
tion will be affected by the very habit oi prayer it- 
self ; so that we may become fit to receive his bless- 
ings in consequence of this habit, when otherwise we 
should not have been. And when we say that the 
Deity foresees^ from the beginning of time, what 
blessings he shall bestow upon each individual, 
it is meant, that he foresees also whether they will 
pray for them or not, and it is in reference to their 
character and condition, as produced by prayer, 
that he foresees that he shall grant them. Thus 
much to remove the difficulty arising from the/ore- 
knowledge of God. 

Prayer is not always followed by the gifts prayed 
for, because it would not in fact be for the welfare 
of the person praying, that these gifts should in all 
cases be bestowed ; but only in those cases where 
God knows that they are best suited to his circum- 
stances, all things considered, and will be likely to 
contribute to his real welfare. But this is no more 
an objection against prayer, than it is against any 
enterprise or transaction, in which a man may en- 



207 

gage in life to obtain any of what are considered 
desirable objects in the world, as wealth, office, or 
fame. In many, and perhaps in most instances in 
the latter class of cases, they fail^ because it is best 
for them that they should fail ; but this does not 
discourage them from pursuing such a course with 
a view to these ends, and when they succeed, they 
are at no loss to consider it as arising from these 
efforts, though in ninety-nine cases out of an hun- 
dred, perhaps, they have been disappointed. But 
prayer^ as I conceive, ought always to be made, not 
for any particular temporal gift, but in general 
terms, for such spiritual and temporal mercies as 
God may see to be best for' us; and that in this 
way only can it ever be effectual ; for God will 
certainly withhold from us what would be injurious, 
though we ask for it, and will grant us what he 
knows will be beneficial, in consequence of our pray- 
ers, in the manner before explained. 

It is also obvious, from the nature of man in it- 
self as free and rational^ that the manner^ in which 
prayers should be answered, must be in consistency 
with this jfree^om and reason; and therefore must 
so take place as not to afford irresistible evidence 
that the blessings followed, as a consequence of the 
prayers. The same objections lie against such ir- 
resistible evidence in the case of prayers as in the 
case of miracles, which has been stated in the arti- 
cle upon that subject. 



208 

This train of remarks will apply as well to prayers 
made for others as for ourselves. By making it ne- 
cessary that we should implore certain blessings for 
others, before they shall be bestowed, not only the 
beneficial effects of prayer, which have been before 
noticed, are gained for the person praying, that is, 
the influence of prayer upon his own character and 
frame of mind ; but habits also of benevolence^ sym- 
pathy^ and an interest in the welfare of others are 
produced. These are dispositions very important 
to be cultivated, and perhaps there is no way which 
would be more effectual to cultivate them than the 
practice of blending the wants of others with our own 
in our petitions to the Father of all mercies^ with 
the devout assurance and expectation, that these 
wants will be supplied in consequence of our prayers, 
so far as it is for the true welfare of the subjects of 
them, that they should be so supplied. This con- 
sideration then may be given to account for the 
efficacy of prayer when made in behalf of others^ 
and why it should be required as indispensable to 
the favors sought. 

And we find in all the dispensations of God, con- 
duct analogous to this. The condition of mankind 
is made such in all the relations of life, that the 
welfare of every one depends in a great degree up- 
on the conduct of others. The character and con- 
dition, in the world, of children, is affected materi- 
ally by the course which their parents pursue ; and 



209 

so of all other relations of life. The world is so 
constituted, that the conduct of each one must, of 
necessity^ have an influence beyond himself^ and af- 
fect the fortunes of others. This, as it is a consti- 
tution proceeding from the hands of a Being per- 
fectly wise^ powerful^ and benevolent^ we are bound 
to beheve to be the best which could have been de- 
vised, and productive, on the whole, of a greater 
amount of happiness, than any other that could be 
devised. And if mankind had universally acted 
agreeably to his requirements, according to the 
knowledge they might have obtained of them, they 
would, I apprehend, always have been in a state of 
perfect innocence and happiness. 



THE CHURCH, AS CONTRADISTINGUISHED FROM THE 
C0J\rGREOJlTJ0JV, 

Very erroneous notions, I conceive, are enter- 
tained and acted upon, in relation to this subject. 
It has been thought, that that portion of Christians, 
who are called the Church, should possess higher 
qualifications of religious character, than the rest of 
the society, in order to entitle them to become mem- 
bers of it ; and that by so becoming members of it, 
they assume new and stronger obhgations of duty, 
than were imposed upon them previously. In both 
these respects I apprehend wrong notions prevail, 
18^ 



210 

and that the nature and intention of the rite of the 
Supper is altogether mistaken. It was originally 
designed, I apprehend, as an impressive ceremony, 
by which the office, sufferings, and death of Christ 
should be recognised by his friends, and as fitted to 
call to their recollection these circumstances in a 
more vivid and striking manner, than the other ordi- 
nances of his religion. It was, as I conceive, of 
the same nature with the celebration of the birth- 
days of persons, which are noticed in an especial 
manner by their friends, or of national jubilees, which 
are kept in memory of some remarkable national 
event. It was intended, like these, to be a public 
testimonial of adherence and attachment to the 
cause in which they originated, and to revive in the 
minds of men the particular circumstances accom- 
panying it ; and in this way, to come in aid of other 
established rites and ordinances in strengthening the 
moral influence of this religion upon their hearts and 
conduct. This, I conceive, was originally the 
only purpose intended to be answered by it. Such 
being the case, it is clear, that no higher qualifica- 
tions of religious character would be required to 
admit persons to a participation of this rite, than of 
any other of the external ordinances of Christianity ; 
because, like them, this also was intended merely as 
a means to improve and perfect the moral nature of 
man, and not as a privilege or reward for high 
attainments already made in this nature. It is to be 



211 

one of the instruments to be employed for this pur- 
pose, and like all the others, to be employed in rela- 
tion to Christians of every grade of religious ad- 
vancement. 

Neither do persons, by becoming participants 
in this rite^ assume any new or stronger obli- 
gation to live in conformity with the requirements of 
the Christian system than they were under previous- 
ly. They become from the first moment of their ac- 
quaintance with Christianity and of their conviction 
of its Divine origin, imperatively bound to embrace 
and govern themselves by all its rules ; and nothing 
that can occur, can afterwards diminish or increase 
this obligation. It is perfect in its inception, as 
proceeding from the will of God, for the highest 
improvement and happiness of all his rational crea- 
tures, and this as much at one period of life as an- 
other, and of one individual as another. Any 
other supposition than this, would make it a vol- 
untary act altogether with the person, whether 
he would assume the obligation or not ; and not one 
which God himself has enjoined, and which he is 
bound to obey. All he has to do is to satisfy him- 
self that this system of religion is the Word of 
God, and when he has done this, his duty to submit 
to its requirements becomes foced and unchange- 
able. 

It will follow from these remaks, that what is 
termed the Church, as originally constituted, was 



212 

intended to embrace the whole mass of Christians ; 
and that it became afterwards circumscribed in its 
extent, and confined to a certain number, who were 
supposed to be of higher rehgious qualifications than 
the rest, was the device of men altogether^ for the 
promotion of their ambitious schemes and purposes 
of secular influence. This, I conceive, was a cor- 
ruption of its original simple form and meaning, and 
that it ought to be again restored to its primitive de- 
sign and made to embrace all those who are willing 
to join it. No previous initiatory ceremony or creed 
should be required ; but hke all the other ordinances, 
the sacrament should be administered as one of 
the established rites, to the Society as such, no dis- 
tinction being known between this body and the 
Church as now termed. Every person by becom- 
ing a partaker would virtually recognise the origin 
and obligation of Christianity according to his ap' 
prehension of it, and this is all that ought to be re- 
quired for this purpose. Any thing like a creed 
therefore is improper, either as amounting to noth^ 
ing more than this, and therefore unnecessary ; or 
if more than this, as unreasonable and therefore un^ 
just. 



213 



THE RITE OF BAPTISM. 



The ohject of this rite has, I conceive, been very 
much misapprehended both in the importance 
which has been attached to some of the modes, in 
which it is performed, and also from the new and 
additional obHgation which, it has been generally 
supposed, is assumed in consequence of it. It was 
designed originally^ I conceive, merely as a suita- 
ble sign or emblem by which those, who embraced 
Christianity, when it was first promulgated, should 
express their belief and adoption of this system. 
As that part of the world, where this took place, was 
one in a remarkable degree watered by rivers, into 
which the inhabitants were very much in the prac- 
tice of descending, for the purpose of bathing, and 
as a large multitude of people were often desirous 
at the same time of making a visible profession of 
their faith in this new system, as a matter of con- 
venience, this particular mode of immersion was 
probably resorted to, for this purpose. This I con- 
ceive is the way in which this mode happened 
originally to be adopted, and not because it was in it- 
self of any more efficacy^ than any other, or because it 
had any efficacy, in zV^e//* considered, at all. The 
object of it, I conceive, was the same in kind^ with 
that of wearing particular badges^ as an outward 
sign of belonging to particular political parties or 
societies 5 as a cockade^ which was worn in this coun- 



214 

try at a certain period of it, as an evidence of at- 
tachment to the existing national adnriinistration ; and 
which also was worn of different colors, by the two 
parties in France, during their late Revolution, to 
distinguish the adherents of each : — Or as ribbons 
of a particular color, and medals attached to them 
are, and have been, worn by members of particu- 
lar societies, as a mark of membership. Like the 
institution of the Supper, this of Baptism, I con- 
ceive, was intended to denote an attachment and 
adherence to the cause, in which they originated ; 
the former, in celebration of particular events com- 
memorated by it, and the latter as an external de- 
monstration of being a believer and professor of the 
system. Neither of them, I conceive, was adminis- 
tered as evidence of any peculiar moral attainments 
on the part of those to whom they were administer- 
ed, or as creating any new and additional obliga- 
tions to live agreeably to the requisitions of the 
Gospel. My views upon this subject, which have 
equal appplication to Baptism, are given in the arti- 
cle in this book respecting " the Church as contra- 
distinguished from the Society." 

At the present period of the world, therefore, in 
Christian contries, there can be no use in the ob- 
servance of this institution, for the purpose for 
which it was originally intended ; as it is to be pre- 
sumed from the fact that this is the National relig- 
ion in such countries, and that people attend places of 



215 

worship where this is recognised, that they intend to 
be considered as embracing Christianity. Still, as 
this is a solemn and impressive ceremony, calculated 
in itself to awaken in the minds of the parties them- 
selves to it, and of the Congregation at large, a deep 
feeling of reverence for the system in which it 
originated, and of obhgation to conform to its requi- 
sitions, it may still be considered as useful in its 
tendency and effects, and therefore expedient to be 
continued. 

The manner in which this rite is administered 
can be of no kind of consequence, whether by im-' 
mersion, sprinkling, or in any other way. Each 
denomination of Christians ought, I conceive, to 
conform to their own taste, inclination, and con- 
venience upon the subject ; as they may and ought to 
do in relation to all those ordinances and ceremo- 
nies, which may be considered as arbitrary and 
positive, and which are to be regarded but as artifi-- 
cial means to produce the great and essential ends 
of Christianity. If one man prefers one form of 
worship, one mode of administering the ordinances, 
and one kind of Church government, and another 
prefers another, there is no reason, I conceive, why 
he should not be governed by his particular predi- 
lections in relation to them, so long as they have 
the same fundamental objects in view — the improve- 
ment and perfection of the moral character of the 
subjects of them. There cannot be expected to be 



216 

a uniformity of opinion upon this. subject, any more 
than a uniformity of taste in relation to any other ; 
and it would be just as reasonable to require that 
every temple, erected to the worship of the Deity, 
should be according to the Grecian or the Gothic 
order of architecture, as that men should all wor- 
ship him in the same way. There are beauties pe- 
cuhar to both of these orders, and human nature is so 
constituted, that some will prefer the one, and some 
the other, and perhaps the very variety is in itself 
made an additional source of gratification to all. 
So I conceive may be the case, with the different 
modes of worship, and the different forms and cere- 
monies prevailing among different denominations, 
that they may each of them have their peculiar ad- 
vantages. 



EXCHANGES. 



The difference of opinion existing upon this sub- 
ject, and the controversy which it has produced in 
rehgious societies, seem to me to proceed altogeth- 
er from mistaken notions of the relative rights and 
duties of clergymen and their people. If infallibil- 
ity could be ascribed to any man, or class of preach- 
ers, not divinely inspired, this question could not 
arise, because, in that case, the people would be 



217 

bound to hear the truth as dispensed from such a 
source, and would not be desirous of hearing it from 
any other. But this not being the case, arising 
from the different intellectual capacity of different 
men, and their different degrees of knowledge, and 
the progressive state of the human mind in its very 
constitution, it follows that no one should be viewed 
by others as such, but all his opinions and statements 
be considered as proceeding from a fallible person 
like themselves, and to be compared with the stan- 
dard of divine and unerring truth. Taking, then, 
this position as settled, and that the object of 
preaching is to instruct mankind in the way of truth 
and duty, the inquiry presents itself, what is the 
most certain and effectual mode to be pursued for 
this purpose ? And it seems to me that this mode 
is, to give them an opportunity of hearing preachers 
of different views upon these subjects, that they may 
have an opportunity of comparing one with another 
and determining from this comparison, which is most 
agreeable to scripture, as examined in connexion 
with the deductions of enlightened reason ; or in 
other words, what is revelation itself; for I conceive 
this to be but the result of the highest efforts of 
reason sanctioned by Divine attestation. And this 
is the course pursued in regard to all other subjects 
of inquiry which present themselves to the human 
mind. In political affairs, a legislator is not ex- 
pected to form an opinion, from hearing those who 
19 



118 

may speak only on one side of a measure, but he 
wishes to hear the subject presented in every possi- 
ble point of view, in order that he may come to a 
conclusion satisfactory to himself. So, too, in causes 
that are argued in our Courts of Justice^ the Court 
and Jury hear advocates on both sides before they 
are prepared to determine as to the merits of the 
case. Why then, in religious inquiries, which are 
in their nature and consequences vastly more imporr 
tant than any other, should a society of Christians 
be obliged to hear those arguments only which are 
intended to support one set of opinions, and none 
others ? It will be said, perhaps, that they may, if 
tbey please, read books containing different views, 
or attend upon preachers who inculcate different 
sentiments. But the same reasons which would 
make it proper for them to do this, would make it 
proper that they should hear these different senti- 
ments supported in their own houses of worship, 
particularly as there are much inconvenience and 
manifest evils growing out of the practice of fre- 
quent attendance at different places of worship. It 
being then established by this course of reasoning, 
that the instruction of mankind, as to what is reli- 
gious truth and duty, is best promoted by hearing the 
most powerful arguments advanced on all sides, and 
further, that the object of preaching is to afford them 
this instruction ; it will follow as a necessary conse- 
quence, that they have a clear and indisputable right 



219 

to obtain this instruction in their own houses of wor^ 
ship ; or, that they have a right to insist that their 
own clergyman shall exchange with such other 
clergymen of different religious sentiments from his 
own as they are desirous of hearing. And the plea 
that the clergyman cannot conscientiously admit in- 
to his pulpit persons entertaining views which he 
believes erroneous and dangerous^ has nothing to do 
with the question. It is not for him to decide this 
matter. The people are to be the judges of it. 
He is settled over them subject to this original and 
indefeasible right on their part, which makes a part 
of the implied contract between them. His assent 
to such an arrangement is not any thing to be solic- 
ited^ or a matter oi favor ; but something which 
arises out of the nature of the ofHce he holds and 
inferihle from it. He is not responsible for any evil 
effects which may spring out of such an arrangement, 
for it is one, over which, from the nature of the 
case, he has no control. He is one party, his 
people are another. If they choose to insist up- 
on their rights in relation to exchanges, he must 
afford them the necessary facilities for the enjoyment 
of these rights ; and if they pervert or abuse them, 
they are accountable not to him, but to their con- 
sciences and their God. 

But it has been asked, should a Protestant cler- 
gyman introduce into his pulpit a Papist or a Ma- 
hometan, provided his people were desirous of hear- 



220 

ing such preachers? I answer, yes; if a majority 
of his people are so desirous. It is a question for 
them alone to settle with their consciences and their 
God ; and to these only are they responsible. But 
there is very little, if any, probability, that in this 
enhghtened age, they would ever be called upon by 
a majority of their people to do their feelings vio- 
lence, by introducing into their pulpit such a person ; 
and the case stated, therefore, is an extreme one^ 
not at all likely to occur, and therefore not deserving 
a consideration in the argument. 

But to put the argument upon another footing. 
Suppose a majority of a Roman Catholic or Mahom- 
etan Society should be desirous of hearing a Protes- 
tant preacher, would not a wish of this kind be con- 
sidered a reasonable one, and such as should be grati- 
fied ? The answer probably would be, yes. What 
difference is there then in the two cases, which should 
require a different decision ? Both suppose them- 
selves to be orthodooe in their peculiar views, and it is 
not the province o{ either to decide for the other ^ that 
he is not. But it is clearly^ for the interest of those, 
who are in fact sound in their religious opinions, or 
nearer the standard of truth than others, (and every 
sect is presumed to believe its peculiar views to be 
such,) that there should be this free discussion of 
them, and ihis freedom of exchange as leading to it, 
because by so doing, they will certainly promote the 
diffusion of their own sentiments. Truth being in 



221 

itself but the correct deductions of reason upon the 
subjects to which it is applied ; it necessarily follows 
that as the human mind becomes enlightened and 
freed from superstition and prejudice, this will grad- 
ually extend itself, and be embraced. And the best 
way of effecting this, is to give every sincere and 
honest religious sect in the world an opportunity, by 
means of their ablest men, to explain and enforce 
their peculiar views, to all who are desirous of be- 
coming acquainted with them. And there is no 
danger in a controversy managed in this way, that 
any should be misled or imposed upon ; because if 
they can be made to understand the arguments on 
one side of a disputed point, they can, as a matter of 
course, be made to understand those on the other side 5 
and so, having a full and fair view of the whole sub- 
ject, they will be enabled to come to a decision sat- 
isfactory to themselves. 



THE SABBATH. 



The questions, whether the Sabbath, as a conse- 
crated day, existed previous to the commandment 
given to Moses and the Children of Israel, so to 
observe it ; and also whether as an institution of 
Divine appointment, it continued after the introduc- 
tion of the Christian dispensation into the world, 
have occasioned much controversy among mankind. 
19^ 



222 

In respect to each of them, I conceive there cannot 
be any doubt, aijd that the answers in both cases 
should be in the affirmative. 

As to the first question, the commencement^ in point 
of time, of this institution, from an examination of 
the account given of the creation of the world in 
Genesis, and the language used in the third com- 
mandment, I should have no doubt, that it had its 
origin at the period of the termination of the work 
of creation. It is said, that " on the seventh day, 
God had ended his work which he had made ; and 
that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." 
Now what other meaning can be given to the term 
" sanctified " here, but that he viewed it as holy 
time, and consecrated and set it apart for this pur- 
pose, I am at a loss to conceive. Doubts have 
been expressed as to the meaning of the word 
day, when apphed to this account of the creation, 
some suggesting that it did not probably mean a day 
consisting of tvjenty-four hoursj according to our 
present notions of this term, but might mean a peri- 
od of much longer duration. But I think the lan- 
guage accompanying it, fully explains its meaning, 
viz. " and the evening and the morning were the 
first, or the seventh day." Now as the terms " even- 
ing and the morning," mean in their original sense 
the time of the sun setting and rising, and as this 
was the first time when they were so used, they 
must be understood to have here this meaning, and 



223 

not to he figurative, since the Jirst sense can never 
be a figurative or borrowed one. By these expres- 
sions here used then, must be meant the period of 
time which elapses in a natural day, or twenty-four 
hours. And we cannot suppose that the days then 
were longer than they are now, without at the same 
time lengthening out the seasons and the year, and 
in this way, the time of the daily revolution of the 
earth round its axis, and of its annual revolution 
round the sun. Thus if we suppose the day then, 
to be what is a year now, and that the sun set and 
rose but once a year, as described by " evening and 
morning," it would follow that the earth would be 
a year revolving once round its axis, and three 
hundred and sixty-five years in revolving once 
round the sun ; that one half of that which is now 
a year, would be night, and one half day to certain 
portions of the earth at certain periods of its revo- 
lution round the sun ; and that the sun would be 
absent from the polar regions one hundred and 
eighty-two and a half years of the three hundred 
and sixty-five, instead of six months, as it is at pres- 
ent. In such a case, each of our seasons would 
continue ninety one and a quarter years instead of 
three months. How the people of this globe could 
be made to endure and survive a change of this 
kind, in the revolution of their planet, from what it 
is at present, I am at a loss to conceive. It seems 
to me impossible. It will follow from these consid- 



224 

erations, therefore, that the day must have been, as 
now, twenty-four hours in duration. 

It has been also said that God might, by an in- 
stantaneous act of his power, have called the world 
into existence at once ; and need not have employed 
himself six days upon it. It is true, he might so 
have done. But he does not always see fit in this 
way to exert his power ; but often-times proceeds 
progressively and even slowly in accomplishing his 
designs. As time with him is endless, it can, in 
itself considered^ be of no consequence whether he 
brings a result to pass in one moment, or a thousand 
years. By taking six days for the work of crea- 
tion, and resting, or ceasing, (for it can have no oth- 
er meaning here,) on the seventh, he might intend 
among other reasons, to signify that his creatures 
should employ themselves in their secular pursuits 
during six days, and rest from them on the seventh. 

With this explanation, then, of the actual time 
employed in the creation of the world, and the 
language used, of God having at that time " sancti- 
fied " the seventh day, and so ordained it to be the 
Sabbath ; I come now to the language of the third 
commandment, the latter part of which is this, viz. 
" For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth 
&c., and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord 
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it ; " plainly 
denoting that the seventh day was by him at that 
time constituted the Sabbath, and for the reasons 



225 

(among others) thus given, which is implied in the 
term '' whtrefore^'^ that is, because he had then fin- 
ished the work of the creation. These two passa- 
ges then, the one from Genesis, and the other from 
Exodus, concurring in the same statement, and re- 
cognising the same day, show, I conceive, conclu- 
sively, that the Sabbath began from the time of the 
termination of the work of creation. 

The next question is, whether, as an institution of 
Divine appointment, it continued after the introduc- 
tion of the Christian dispensation into the world. 
Because Christ did not himself at that time expressly 
enjoin the observance of it ; and because, after this 
period, it was changed from the seventh to the first 
day of the week, it has been doubted and denied 
that it was any longer a Divine institution, or one kept 
in obedience to the positive command of the Deity. 

I will not, at this time, enter into any considera- 
tions of the day, for the purpose of showing its 
beneficial effects, whether viewed in its influence 
upon the religion, morals, or political institutions of 
society, all of which must be admitted to be incal- 
culable and immense ; and even indispensable to 
their very existence. But taking these for granted, 
as they have been times without number demonstrat- 
ed, I will proceed to deduce the fact, that it is still 
a day of positive Divine command. 

The first argument to prove this, is the circum- 
stance, that it does not appear, that the command 



226 

was ever in any way whatever abrogated or annul- 
led^ either expressly or by implication^ otherwise 
than by a transfer from the seventh to the first day 
of the week. Now as the purpose for which it was 
originally designed, still required its observance, 
because neither Christianity, nor any other religion, 
could be kept ahve in the world, without some day 
occurring within short intervals, being assigned to 
its consideration and enforcement, it follows as a 
ndtessary inference, that it was still intended it 
should continue to be observed ; since the reason 
continuing, the law or command may justly be pre- 
sumed to continue likewise. And the fact of the 
day of the week being changed, in order to com- 
memorate crwo^Aer interesting event in connexion with 
the original design of this occasion, does not affect 
this conclusion, since the particular day is in itself of 
no consequence, but only that a determinate day, oc- 
curring as often as once in seven days, should be 
kept for the purpose ; and that the great object of 
it should still be pursued in its observance. 

The second argument to prove that it is still to be 
considered as a day of Divine institution, is an in- 
ference which results from the considerations con- 
tained in the former, and in fact has already been 
stated. As it may fairly be presumed that whatev- 
er institutions are essential to the support and prop- 
agation of a religion, which is of itself of Divine 
communication and appointment, are themselves also 



227 

enjoined to be observed, since it cannot without 
them continue to exist and maintain its influence; 
and as the Sabbath is admitted to be eminently such 
an institution, it follows therefore, that this is still to 
be considered of Divine appointment. For other- 
wise, it would follow, that the Deity might require 
certain ends to be accomplished, without requiring 
that the essential means should be used for this 
purpose ; and therefore, that effects should happen 
without the necessary intermediate causes operating 
to produce them. This would be to make him the 
author of absurdities and inconsistencies, which can 
never for a moment be even supposed. 

It follows, therefore, I conceive, from these two 
arguments conclusively, without urging any others, 
that the Christian Sabbath has always been, and 
continues to be, an institution of Divine appoint- 
ment^ and so to be regarded and observed. 



THE PROPHECY OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 

It will follow from what has been said in a former 
article under the head of'' Prophecy," that this must, 
in its own nature^ and for the purpose to he accom- 
plished by it, be at the same time in the terms of it, so 
minute, that it will clearly be perceived, when it is ful- 
filling and has been fulfilled, that such is the case, and 
at the same time, not so minute that the manner of its 



228 

fulfilment shall be perceived hefore this time arrives, 
so as to control i\iQ actions of men, and thus destroy 
iheiv free-agency in that conduct, which is to precede 
the fulfilment, and render it necessary that it should 
take place. By necessary^ I mean that there should 
be this dispensation of Deity, called for by the exis- 
ting state and conduct of mankind, or that portion 
to be affected by it, in the course of his moral 
Providence. The reasons why Prophecy should 
not be too minute will be found in the article under 
the head before mentioned. — The reason why it 
should be sufficiently minute, is perfectly obvious, 
for otherwise it could never answer the object of 
Prophecy, as it could never be determined satisfac- 
torily, when it had been fulfilled. 

It follows from what has been before said, that 
the precise manner in which Prophecy is to be ful- 
filled cannot in the nature of things be known &€- 
forehand, because its very fulfilment depends upon 
the absolute ignorance or uncertainty of the parties 
to ^it, that their conduct is to constitute and re- 
quire its fulfilment — and they are to act as free- 
agents through the whole series of events attending 
it. And it also follows from this circumstance, that 
the manner of its fulfilment when it takes place 
must be altogether different, from the general ex- 
pectation prevailing in regard to it ; since what was 
not, and could not be, foreseen beforehand, must, 
from this very circumstance, be different from the 



229 

expectation entertained respecting it, if any such 
expectation there were ; for otherwise, the manner 
would be understood and foreseen. 

Now to apply these remarks to the Prophecy 
contained in the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians, 
which refers to the second coming of Christy and 
the " Man of Sin.^^ This describes, with a con- 
siderable degree of minuteness, some of the cir- 
cumstances attending its fulfilment, but not with 
such minuteness^ as to make it certain or even proba- 
ble beforehand^ what the manner of it will be. The 
langage ^' In flaming fire,^^ he. in relation to the 
manner in which Christ should take "vengeance 
upon those who know not God," &lc,- — and that 
which describes the period of his second appear- 
ance, as, that " that day shall not come, except there 
come a falhng away first, and that man of sin be 
revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and 
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that 
is worshipped — so that he, as God, sitteth in the tem- 
ple of God^ showing himself, that he is God," &:c. 
— I say, this language, while it is sufficiently minute^ 
to make it certain enough to every reasonable and 
enlightened being, that the prophecy has been fulfil- 
led when this shall be the case, is not sufficiently 
minute to determine beforehand, when it will take 
place, or what will be the precise manner. It has 
been supposed by some, that the fulfilment has 
taken place in the usurpation and oppression of the 
20 



230 

Roman Pontiffs, and by others in the career of 
Bonaparte ; but it seems to me, that besides the 
minute circumstances mentioned above, not being 
seen to have attended these events, operating as in- 
superable objections against this supposition, the 
very fact of this uncertainty^ whether they constitute ' 
the fulfilment, is of itself evidence enough, that 
they neither of them were the fulfilment, since 
this fulfilment can be of no use for the purpose in- 
tended, unless it is seen, beyond all reasonable 
doubt, to be such. 

The same course of remarks may be apphed 
to the Prophecy relating to the '' Mystery^ Babylon 
the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and Abominations 
of the Earth," as contained in the seventeenth and 
eighteenth chapters of Revelation, and which prob- 
ably were to be fulfilled at the second coming of 
Christ. This city is described as a " great whore 
that sitteth upon many waters^"^ or perhaps surround- 
ed hy water ; and also in these words, viz- " Baby- 
Ion the Great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the 
habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, 
and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird," Sic. 
And in the 8th verse, " Therefore shall her plagues 
come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, 
and she shall be utterly burned with fire ; for strong 
is the Lord God who judgeth her," &c. And 
in the 11th verse, " And the merchants of the earth 
shall weep and mourn over her ; for no man buy- 



231 

eth her merchandise any more^'^ he. And in the 
20th verse, ^' Rejoice over her, thou Heaven, and 
ye holy Apostles and prophets, for God hath aveng- 
ed you on her," he. And in the 24th verse, " And 
in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, 
and of all that were slain upon the earth." Now in 
the language used in this prophecy, there is suffi- 
cient indefiniteness to make it in itself perfectly un- 
certain beforehand, to what city on the earth it was 
intended to apply, and even during its fulfilment, 
except by information furnished through the exercise 
of the principle of faith, by which some features of it 
may probably be seen to belong to a particular place. 
There is, therefore, svjfficient indefiniteness in it, not 
to lead manldnd necessarily to appropriate it to any 
particular city, and so control their conduct in 
obliging them to act as agents in the fulfilment of the 
prophecy ; and still sufficient minuteness to give them 
a clue as to what city it is probably appHcable, and 
so to influence their conduct, in its fulfilment. And 
the information they procure by the exercise of this 
principle of Faith, when acting in conjunction with 
Reason, ought, in itself, to be considered as satisfacto- 
ry, and be made the ground of as unhesitating and 
unreserved obedience to its requirements as informa- 
tion obtained in any other way. And the Deity will 
consider his creatures as much accountable for 
the conduct they pursue in reference to his com- 
mands, communicated in this way, as in any other, 



232 

and subject to severe punishment, or the objects of 
his complacency and beneficence, according as they 
do or do not, obey his will, thus intimated to them. 
As these peculiar features are not applicable to any 
city, where the fulfilment has been said to have 
taken place, there can be no doubt that it has not 
taken place in any events, which may have befallen 
any such city, but that the prophesy remains to re- 
ceive its full accomplishment. 



ACTS i. 11. 

" This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, 
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into 
Heaven." 

This passage must, I conceive, relate to the sec- 
ond appearance of the Son of God upon earth, as is 
predicted in 1 Thessalonians, first and second chap- 
ters, and also in Revelations. By coming in '' like 
manner,^^ I apprehend, is probably meant, that there 
will be a general parallel between the circumstances 
attending his Jirst mission and mjnistry, and the sec- 
ond; that the latter will have the same variety of at- 
testation from on high as the former, as preceded by 
such a Divine messenger as John the Baptist^ having 
perhaps twelve disciples, in the first instance being 
confirmed by miracles, the fulfihnent of prophecy^ 
signs in heaven, the additional revelation he should 
make suited to the greater advancement of the human 



233 

mind, the sufferings he should endure, and the general 
manner of his Hfe ; that he should in " like manner " 
be subjected to violent persecution, ignominy, and 
reproach, but not to actual death, as literally under- 
stood ; that he should finally triumph over all these 
obstacles, and extend his kingdom and Gospel over 
all the nations of the earth ; that through the whole 
progress of the drama it should be seen to be " the 
power of God and the wisdom of God," and result 
in the firm estabhshment of the reign of righteous- 
ness in the world. And as at the^r^^ advent of 
Christ, Jerusalem was entirely destroyed for the 
extreme barbarity of its inhabitants towards him, and 
its gross corruption and wickedness, so also will 
probably the Mystical Babylon be -^ utterly burned 
with Jire^^^ for its impious contempt of the Majesty 
of the Most High^ its daring defiance of his powder 
in their treatment of his Son, and its entire abandon- 
ment to every species of crime and wickedness. Its fate 
is to be the last signal monument of Divine justice, 
before the consummation of all things at the end of 
the world, and this,"connected with the chain of events, 
of which it makes apart, will probably produce such 
a w^onderful impression upon the human race then 
existing, and of succeeding generations, that it will 
not be necessary that another terrible interposition of 
Almighty power should be made to deter his crea- 
tures from future acts of gross iniquity, or renewed 
attempts of high handed Treason against his gov- 
30^ 



234 

ernment and laws. It will probably stand out in 
the history of the world as the most deplorable 
example of human wickedness and folly, which has 
arisen since its creation, followed by the most awful 
judgments which were ever visited upon any portion 
of his creatures. 

It will follow from what has been said of the na- 
ture of prophecy itself, as requiring a certain degree 
of indejiniteness, that the prediction which stands at 
the head of this article, and which was uttered by 
the two heavenly visitants '' in white apparel," was 
probably altogether misunderstood by the company, 
to whom they were addressed ; who, it is probable, 
were led to suppose, by the words " like manner^'^^ 
that Christ would, at some future time, descend from 
the air or heaven, in the same way that he ascended. 
The language is in itself ambiguous^ and will import 
either this meaning, or the one given in the preced- 
ing remarks. It was probably made purposely such ; 
and the misconception which might be occasioned, 
by it continuing, would be hkely to aid the fulfil- 
ment of the prophecy. 

So also in regard to the prediction uttered by 
Christ himself concerning his second appearance^ as 
contained in Matthew xxiv. 27, &:c. '' For as the 
lightning cometh out of the east," &:c. — " And im- 
mediately after the tribulation of these days, shall 
the sun he darkened^'''' &:c. — " And then shall ap- 
pear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven ; and 



235 

then shall the tribes of the earth mourn ; and they 
shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of 
Heaven," fee. So again, in Matt. xxvi. 64, '^ Here- 
after," &c. and Mark xiii. 24. &:c. and xiv. 62, and 
Revelations i. 7. 

There were two inquiries put at the same time by 
the disciples, as it seems, to Christ, Matt. xxiv. 3 ; 
one respecting the destruction of Jerusalem^ and the 
other, respecting his second appearance at the end 
or last ages of the world. A part of his repHes 
were probably intended to give them information 
respecting the signs which should precede and in- 
dicate the events attending the former^ and a part 
of them, those attending the latter. This is to be 
inferred, not merely from the fact of there having 
been inquiries relating to hoth these events, but also 
because the signs which it was said by him in his 
repHes would happen, did not happen, as we have 
ever learnt, at the time of the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem. We have never been informed that the sun 
or the moon was darkened^ or that the stars failed 
to be seen in Heaven ; or that there Avas any indi- 
cation iri any way of his coming at that time, in the 
'' clouds of Heaven. "^^ 

I am led to conclude, therefore, that these signs 
were intended to refer to his second appearance at 
the end of the world, or in its last ages, to the thou- 
sand years, during which he is to reign on earth, 
which is to be the seventh or last thousand years. 



236 

during which the world was intended to continue, 
which is to constitute the Millennium, or, as it may 
be called, the Sabbath of the world, at the end of 
which period are to be the general resurrection and 
judgment, as described 2 Peter iii. and Revelations 
XX, and the Jinal destruction of this globe in the 
manner there mentioned. 

Now let us apply the remarks which have been 
made respecting the ambiguity of language in rela- 
tion to prophecy, to these signs of the second com- 
ing of Christ. By the sun being darkened and the 
moon not giving her light, &ic. is meant, I appre- 
hend, what is expressed in Revelations viii. 12. 
" that the third part of the sun was smitten," &lc. 
and that they both refer to the same events. Now 
take this language as it stands, and it might mean that 
a third part of the sun &:c. was actually obscured 
or eclipsed, and this is the meaning which it most 
readily suggests ; and the effect of it is said to be, 
that the day ^c. shone not for a third part of it ; 
but it is evident that the term " day " cannot here 
mean what we consider such ; because by a third 
part of the sun being darkened in this way, this ef- 
fect would not be produced, the day would not be 
shortened one third, but a diminished light of one 
third through the ivhole day would be the conse- 
quence. We must therefore, by the term day, un- 
derstand the sun itself; and by the night, the moon 
itself, the effect being put for the cause, and that the 



237 

that the sun shone not for a third part 
of it, that is, the sun itself, &lc. Now this effect 
might he produced either by an obscuration of one 
distinct third of the disc of the sun, he. or by spots 
which should cover as much of the disc, as would 
make a third part of it. 

Next, as to the " clouds of Heaven, ^^ in which it 
is said, the Son of Man shall be seen coming; this 
might mean, that he shall be seen actually appear- 
ing in the clouds, or borne upon them ; or that there 
should be some peculiar appearance about them, 
which should indicate that he was then on the earth, 
and thus constitute one species of evidence, by which 
his appearance should be known. So also the lan- 
guage, " he shall send his angels," &c. might mean 
that class of beings, which are supposed by some to 
reside in a celestial world ; or it might mean his 
apostles, and the other ministers employed to propa- 
gate his religion, and execute his purposes, that is, the 
purposes of God. And all this ambiguity, while it 
necessarily belongs to prophecy before its fulfilment, 
ceases necessarily with this fulfilment. 

In regard to the prophecies contained in 2 Thes- 
salonians, as it respects the second appearance of 
Christ, and the man of sin, and also those contained 
in the book of Revelations, it is probable that they 
were dictated to the authors of them by God him- 
self, and were not, at the time, either themselves or 
the manner of their fulfilment, understood by them. 



238 

They were, I apprehend, merely employed to pro- 
claim them, and not to understand or explain them ; 
prophecy from its very nature not requiring, or even 
admitting this. The events explain the prophecy, 
and not the prophecy the events. And a prophecy 
, may be made sometimes, I conceive, without even 
the person making it, knowing it to be 5UcA, or 
ever being apprised of it, unless some subsequent 
circumstances should satisfy him, that it had been 
such. It is always God who makes the prophecy, 
and man is only the instrument employed by him. 

The manner of the coming of the Son of Man is 
said to be, (Luke xvii. 24.) as the " lightnings that 
lighteneth out of one part of the heavens," &:c. By 
this may be meant, either that his coming shall be 
as sudden as a flash of lightning ; or that the light- 
ning shall, in some way^ constitute one of the indi- 
cations or evidences of his coming. And in verse 
29 of the same chapter it is said, ''but the same day 
that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and 
brimstone^ &lc. Even thus shall it be when the 
Son of Man is revealed^ By revealed, may be 
meant either, when he shall ^r^^ make his reappear- 
ance, or when the event referred to, viz. the burn- 
ing of some place, (as Babylon, perhaps, mentioned 
in the 18th chapter of Revelations,) shall complete 
the evidence, or render certain the fact that he was 
in truth the Son of Man. 



239 

By the words " this generation shall not pass 
until all these things be fulfilled," I am inclined to 
believe were meant, this race of mankind^ and not 
the people who were then on the earth. This is 
the only meaning consistently with the supposition 
that Christ was not to make his second appearance 
within the lives of the then existing generation, 
which we know he did not make ; and consistently 
with the signs which it was said would attest this 
event, viz. that the sun would be darkened^ &fc. 
which, we never have been informed by history, 
happened at that time. 



JAMES ii. 10. 



" For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in 
one point, he is guilty of a/Z." 

This passage taken literally^ as it now stands, 
evidently involves a contradiction ; for a person can- 
not keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point ; 
but the meaning of it probably is, that whoever keeps 
the law generally^ and yet offends in one point, is 
guilty of ail. 

The truth of this affirmation will clearly appear 
from the following considerations : — By law, as I 
here use it, is meant the code of duties which God 
has prescribed to mankind for the regulation of their 
conduct, let it be derived from what source it may. 



240 

The observance of each and all of these duties is 
productive of happiness to the individual, and the 
species, both in the character they are calculated to 
form, and the particular consequences which flow 
from each of them. But this observance of them 
can only be secured by a regard to the will of Godj 
from whom the law proceeds, and from a firm be- 
lief that he will punish each particular transgression 
of it. There are inferior considerations to these, 
as a regard to the opinion of the world, a fear of 
detection by man, and human punishment following 
it, which will sometimes restrain men from violations 
of duty; but this will restrain them in the former 
case only in those instances where the world has 
stamped its odium upon certain actions, according as 
they agree with or differ from the standard which it 
has prescribed, and which is in itself not only defec- 
tive, but in many c^ses false ; and in the latter case, 
only where there is supposed to be a probability 
of detection ; and which, under the operation of 
merely human laws, exists only in a very small num- 
ber of cases compared to the whole range of human 
conduct, both because their cognizance is in itself 
very Umited in its application, and because that even 
in cases where they take cognizance, in many in- 
stances probably crime escapes detection by them-. 
But the law of God is not only conformed to a stand- 
ard, in {fs^QM perfect, but is applicable to every species 
of conduct ; and detection of its violation and the pun- 
ishment consequent upon it are both inevitable. 



241 

Now to apply these remarks to the subject under 
consideration. According to the laws of public 
opinion and of human government^ regard being 
had only to the known and visible consequences of 
actions upon society, and not to their influence on 
the disposition and character of the persons per- 
forming them, it would not be true that a violation 
of one point of the law only, would be a violation 
of the whole, because the consequences of each 
separate violation upon society are different and in- 
dependent. But as it regards the Divine law, which 
is intended to operate particularly upon the charac- 
ter and disposition of each individual, and where, to 
have this effect, it must depend for its efficacy upon 
a sense of the source, whence the obligation is de- 
rived, it would be true. For a person who should 
so far disregard the command of God, as deliberate- 
ly to neglect or violate any one known duty, would 
necessarily be wanting in that disposition — in that 
sense of obedience and allegiance to him, which 
constitute the very binding force of the law, and 
which could alone secure the constant observance 
of any part of it. He might be in the practice of dis- 
charging his duties generally, but he would be actu- 
ated in so doing by other motives than a regard to 
the Divine will, which motives would probably have 
but a feeble influence upon his character and feel- 
ings, and yield readily to a strong temptation to re- 
sist them, or a supposed security from detection. 
21 



242 

But if he acts in obedience to what he beUeves to 
be the will and command of God^ these motives will 
influence and control every kind of action, because 
they apply as well to one as another, and the failure 
of them in respect to any one class of duties will 
in itself imply an absence of these motives in re- 
spect to all. And it is in this sense that it is said 
" whosoever shall offend in one point, he is guilty of 
alV 



MATTHEW V. 18. 



" Till heaven and earth pass, one]oi or one tittle shall in no wise 
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." 

By law^ as it is used in this passage, is meant, 
probably, not a code of laws, in any sense whatev- 
er ; but the plan of the Divine government^ as it 
consists of the -yoZi^n^ary actions of mankind on their 
part^ and the conduct pursued by the Deity in ref- 
erence to them on his part. This plan commenced 
with the creation of the world, and is to extend till 
the events referred to take place, that is, " till the 
heaven and earth pass " away, or the consummation 
of all things ; when " all will be fulfilled." 

When this plan of the Divine government is con- 
sidered, it is perfectly evident that all the results em- 
braced by it, must of necessity take place, and this 



243 

without in the slightest degree infringing human lib- 
erty. For it consists only oi foreknowledge on his 
part, of the actions of mankind in all successive 
ages, and of the course he himself shall pursue to 
overrule or aid them, as they may, or may not be 
conformable to his will, or in other words, for the 
happiness of the agents and the human family. 
And this course of aiding or overruling the actions 
of men is not by exerting any coercion upon their 
will^ to oblige them to do or not to do, any particu- 
lar action, but by affording them means and oppor- 
tunities iq the course of his providence, for carrying 
their good designs into execution, or in the same 
way, of preventing or mitigating the consequences of 
their had designs and conduct as much as possible. 
Now as the foreknowledge of God is in itself cer- 
tain, being an attribute which must belong to his 
character, and without which the government of the 
world couM not be carried on, it follows of necessi- 
ty that every part of his plan, as it has been explain^ 
ed, must take place. Where, therefore, there are 
any prophecies founded upon this foreknowledge^ 
let them have been published in whatever way, 
they will be fulfilled, and nothing can prevent their 
fulfilment ; for evenXsfuture are made as certain as 
events past. The manner and the time, and the 
circumstances of their fulfilment, may not be ex;- 
plained, and may not be known to us, till the time 
arrives for their fulfilment ; and it is not consistent 



244 

with the nature of prophecy^ that they should be 
explained or known ; but this instead of preventing 
its fulfilment, aids it, and perhaps may be the very 
means of producing it. 

With this explanation of the text, it is evident 
that " till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tit« 
tie shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be 
fulfilled," 



MATTHEW xxii. 3. 



" For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in 
marriage ; but are as the angels of God in heaven." 

It has been a matter of a great deal of solicitude 
among mankind to know whether they should exist 
in a social state in the future world, and if so, whe- 
ther they should sustain towards each other the 
same relations of kindred and affinity which they do 
here. As the nature of man is so constituted that 
he is made to derive a large portion of his happi- 
ness in this state of things from the cultivation and 
exercise of his social powers, and an intercourse 
with the rest of his species ; and as we have no 
reason to suppose that this nature will be changed in 
a future world, it is fair to infer, that he will still 
continue to exist in a social state there, and derive 
a large portion of his happiness from this source. 



245 

But the same relations of kindred and affinity 
will not^ I conceive, exist in this new state of things. 
In this world, it is necessary, both for the perpetua- 
tion, preservation, and education of the human race, 
that these ties of relationship should exist, and the 
difference of ages and sexes among mankind admit, 
and no doubt were intended to produce them. But 
in a future world, at ivhatever time this state shall 
commence, these bonds of affinity and consanguini- 
ty will be no longer necessary for these purposes, 
and will therefore probably cease. There being 
there, according to the conception we have of this 
state, no such thing as difference of ages or sexes, 
it will in the nature of things be impossible that a 
relationship founded upon them, or a state of feel- 
ing growing out of them, should exist ; for the effect 
cannot take place without the cause to produce it. 
And the absence of this particular kind of connex- 
ion, will be so far from diminishing the happiness of 
the human family as derived from their social nature, 
that this will probably be increased by it. It will 
be succeeded by the strong ties of friendship and 
brotherly love, which will place all mankind upon 
the same level in this respect, and produce an in- 
terchange of benevolence and kindness, undiminish- 
ed by any disparity of age or circumstances, or a 
slavish fear and dread, which are often the conse- 
quences of the relations which exist on earth. 
They will then indeed be " as the angels of God," 
21^ 



246 

employed in the cultivation of their moral, social, 
and intellectual nature, deriving all their happiness 
from these sources, and from a consciousness of 
living under the government of a Being of perfect 
wisdom, benevolence, equity, and power. Love to 
God and love to men will not merely be the theme 
of their lips, but the feehng of their hearts and the 
conduct of their lives ; and this will yield them the 
highest and purest joy. 

As to that portion of our race, who may have 
been connected with us in this world, and who may 
be made the subjects oi punishment in a future one ; 
this circumstance will not probably be suffered to 
detract from the blessedness of the righteous, as by 
a removal from them, they will not be made the 
witnesses of their sufferings, or probably even know 
of them. And if they should believe that their 
former relations on earth were from their known 
characters reaping the fruits of their criminal and 
vicious course while here, the conviction that it is 
absolutely necessary that they should be subjected 
to this state of suffering, to produce a reformation 
and purification of their characters in order that they 
also should be made meet subjects for the kingdom 
of Heaven, will entirely reconcile the minds of the 
righteous to these painful dispensations of the Di- 
vine will, and still further strengthen their confi- 
dence in his paternal love and goodness. So that 
Heaven, to those who are perfect^ will be made a 
state of unmingled happiness and love. 



247 



MATTHEW vii. 3. 



'* Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye ; 
and behold a beam is in thine own eye." 

These words are selected here for the purpose 
of suggesting some considerations to enable us to 
detect the guilt of those who have been in the com- 
mission of concealed crimes or vices, which have 
escaped the observation of man and the cognizance 
of human laws. They present two different kinds 
of evidence for this purpose ; one the disposition of 
persons to suspect those who are perfectly innocent 
of any criminal or improper conduct ; and the other 
to huagine they themselves are the objects of sus- 
picion^ when no such suspicion does in fact exist in 
the minds of any one respecting them. 
. As to \he firsts viz. a suspicion of others, without 
any just cause. There are two circumstances in 
this case, which will lead a person, guilty himself^ 
to suspect others. One is, the propensity in man- 
kind to look at others through the medium of their 
own characters and passions, and to believe, that be- 
cause they themselves have been guilty of crimes or 
vices, others must have been so likewise. This re- 
mark will apply to all descriptions of character and 
all grades of men. The benevolent man is inclined 
to beheve others benevolent; the virtuous man, that 
others are virtuous ; the rehgious, that others are 
religious. So on the other hand, the profligate sus- 



248 

pect others of profligacy ; the selfish, others of selfish- 
ness, and the impious, others of impiety. And so 
in respect to each particular virtue and vice. Each 
one is disposed to attribute to others that quality 
which predominates most in his own character. 
This is what is commonly called judging others by 
ourselves. These remarks are intended to apply to 
those who form gratuitous suspicions of the charac- 
ter and conduct of others, where there is no satis- 
factory evidence to justify them, and not to those 
cases, where there is such evidence existing. In 
the former case, then, a forwardness to suspect oth- 
ers is an evidence of something wrong in the per- 
son suspecting himself. 

The next circumstance which will induce a per- 
son guilty himself, to suspect others, is, that by so do- 
ing and by creating an impression in the minds of 
the community, of the guilt of another, he both 
reduces that other to what he feels to be his own 
deserved low standing in the world, which is always 
an aim and object of desire by the wicked and 
abandoned ; and likewise throws, or thinks he 
throws, a veil over his own bad character by appear- 
ing to be the strenuous companion of virtue and 
religion. He imagines that mankind will not sus- 
pect him to be criminal himself, when he shows so 
much ardor and zeal in the detection of the crimes 
of others. But in these cases the cloven foot gen- 
erally makes its appearance. There is too much 



249 

anxiety and effort to procure the conviction of an- 
other, to proceed from motives pure and disinterest- 
ed in themselves. The manners^ the language^ the 
conduct do not manifest that high sense of pubHc 
duty and rehgious obhgation, which are made the 
pretence of all their proceedings. There is a want 
of moderation, of temper, of judgment, and of feel- 
ing in their conduct, which accompanies such exalted 
motives. There is an unnecessary and unaccounta- 
ble excitement^ about them, which betrays the hidden 
leaven of iniquity. This is another circumstance 
which serves to demonstrate or render probable the 
guilt of the person suspecting. 

The next consideration from which we may fair- 
ly infer the guilt of persons, is their conduct in be- 
traying that they think themselves the object of 
suspicion^ when either no suspicion did in fact exist, 
or when, if it did^ no intimation in any way had 
been given to the person suspected, of its existence. 
This manner of betraying themselves may be by 
putting a construction upon language or conduct, 
different from the sense it commonly means or what 
it was intended to bear, and is discoverable by the 
expression of their countenance^ the tone of their 
voice, or their manner^ in such cases. And also 
by their studiously doing or saying something in 
reference to the thing about which they believe 
themselves suspected ; or in carefully omitting and 
avoiding to do or say any thing about it. In the 



250 

former case, they endeavour to destroy suspicion by 
appearing to treat the subject of it very familiarly^ 
and in the latter case, to keep it out of sight and 
the thoughts of others. In both cases they do not 
conduct as they would in other circumstances. 
They either do or 07nit to do what they would not 
or would have done, had they not supposed them- 
selves suspected. Their conduct is not natural ; 
it is out of the way ; overacted ; it carries on its 
face marks of design and premeditation which be- 
tray its origin and motives. This, then, is another 
and a strong evidence of guilt. 

Where a person, however, has had intimations 
that he is suspected of some crime, which, connect- 
ed with other circumstances, leave no doubt upon 
his mind that this is the case, and that the suspicion 
has been widely and extensively spread and pervades 
the whole community, he has a right to conclude 
that any conduct or language which is in itself un- 
usual, out of the way, farfetched, h^v'm^ reference 
to himself, proceeds from design and premeditation, 
and is intended to indicate suspicion and express a 
conviction of guilt, where it will bear this con- 
struction ; because, having settled in his own mind 
that he has been suspected, and that publicly 
and generally, he must, as a necessary consequence, 
conclude that people, knowing his belief, would re- 
frain from such proceeding, if the suspicion no 
longer existed, and every renewed instance of this 



251 

extraordinary conduct must be considered as a re- 
newed indication of suspicion, and he has a perfect 
right so to treat it ; and when other means have 
failed, to visit the person manifesting it with a pro- 
per mark of displeasure and punishment ; and to 
continue his rebukes, till the occasion of them shall 
be made entirely to cease. This is a duty he owes 
his God^ mankind^ and himself^ in which he would 
fail were he not to persevere. These remarks of 
course proceed upon the supposition of the conscious- 
ness of entire innocence on the part of the person, 
who has had these intimations and received this 
treatment ; for otherwise they will not apply. 



MATTHEW xxiii. 5. 



" But all their works they do to be seen of men; they make 
broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their gar- 
ments," &c. 

The particular object of introducing the above 
passage is to comment upon the folly of endeavouring 
to draw the respect of men to religion, or more 
properly perhaps the rninisters of religion, by assum- 
ing a peculiar dress to distinguish them from other 
classes of men, and titles which, if they do not par- 
take of actual* impiety, savour very strongly of per- 

* Psalm cxi. 9. <* Holy and reverend is his name.*' 



252 

sonal vanity and ostentation. I can see no reason 
myself why a clergyman should wear a black dress 
rather than of ony other color during the week 
time, and none why he should do this on Sunday, 
except that it is in itself generally considered as the 
hansomest and most becoming color ; and this con- 
sideration will apply as well to all other classes of 
persons as to clergymen. This seems to me to be 
a mere matter of taste and convenience, about which 
a person should be left to act entirely according to 
his own inclination. 

It may be the case that among the ignorant and 
superstitious, these external circumstances have a 
tendency to fill their minds with awe and respect to- 
wards their spiritual teachers ; but I am inclined to 
think that even in this case, this awe and respect are 
felt merely to the person of the clergyman and the 
external rites and ceremonies of rehgion, and not 
for the character he supports by his life and conver- 
sation, nor for the essential doctrines and precepts 
of that religion. And that in this way it is merely 
productive of a blind and slavish fear and homage, 
without any influence upon the conduct and morals 
of his people. I speak now of dress, titles, and 
deportment &:c., regarded merely in themselves, 
without reference to higher claims to respect. 

But in the present enhghtened state of the world 
there are a very large proportion of mankind with 
v^YiOVCi these circumstances do not weigh Vi feather, 



253 

who are in the habit of considering them as mere 
artificial appendages which were adopted from cler- 
ical pride and vanity in their origin, and who nei- 
ther think the better nor the worse of a man for be- 
ing found with them. If they are seen united with 
the essential virtues and graces and inteUigence of the 
religious character, they do not in their estimation 
afford the latter any additional attractiveness or in- 
fluence ; and if they are not found thus united, but the 
mere accompaniments of ignorance, self-conceit, or 
hypocrisy, so far from producing a respect for the 
person invested with them, they create merely dis- 
gust towards him, and disagreeable and injurious as- 
sociations with respect to the religion he preaches ; 
so that in no case, I conceive, are they productive 
of any good effects. 

But besides the above considerations, it seems to 
me these external appendages are productive of ef- 
fects positively injurious to the cause of religion. 
They serve to separate clergymen too much from 
the mass of mankind, to keep them from coming 
fairly in contact with them, to lead to an assumed 
and studied manner of deportment in social inter- 
course on both sides, and thus to prevent much of 
that influence which religion is calculated to have 
upon their people, when found in company with 
cordiality and freedom of pastoral manners. It 
makes religion too much an affair in which the cler- 
gy are thought to have a paramount interest, and not 
22 



254 

one which is equally important to all classes of men. 
It has a tendency to appropriate it to particular days 
and occasions, instead of making it pervade and in- 
fluence all the business of life and the whole deport- 
ment of the individual at all times. It makes relig- 
ion one thing, and the transactions of the world an^ 
other, instead of putting the latter always under the 
direction and control of the former. 

It seems to me that the clergyman should en- 
deavour to distinguish himself in no other way from 
the people of his charge, but by presenting himself 
as a more perfect example of the influence of his re- 
ligion upon his own character and conduct, and thus 
endeavour to induce his people, by seeing in him 
the loveliness of virtue and piety, themselves to em- 
brace and practise them. This is the only legiti- 
mate source of influence and respect, and this will 
always obtain them from all ranks of mankind, as far 
as they are discovered and understood. 



FAITH AND WORKS 



There has been a great deal of controversy 
among Christians respecting Faith and Works, 
some insisting upon the superior or sole efficacy of 
one, and some of the other. But it is manifest 
that these terms are misapprehended, when either 
of these views is taken of them, and that it is the 



255 

union of both of these, that gives an action its 
proper moral character, entitles it to the name of 
virtuous or holy, and productive of the consequen- 
ces belonging to it, as such. By faith, as used in 
this place, is meant a behef in the moral govern- 
ment of God, and that he is the Author of the pres- 
ent constitution of things, under which actions re- 
ceive their peculiar moral character, as being right 
or wrong, virtuous or vicious ; that he is the Creator, 
Lawgiver, Sovereign, and Judge of the beings he 
has formed, and that his will is to be regarded as 
theii* rule of duty. Now according to this definition 
of Faith, it is manifest, that so far from its being a 
principle of any worth without works, the very 
object of it is to produce works, and it cannot 
be said in fact to exist without them. For if a per- 
son has a firm and unwavering conviction of those 
truths upon which Faith is said here to depend, he 
will, as a matter of course, act in conformity to it ; 
that is, his conduct or works will be influenced and 
produced by this conviction. He will in his actions 
have reference to the will of God, as such, and 
be disposed to perform them because they are 
agreeable to his requirements. If he does not do 
this, it is evident that this faith either does not exist 
with him at all, or else that he is not firmly ground- 
ed in it, but suffers himself to entertain doubts, 
whenever he is desirous of doing something in op- 
position to its dictates. For I assert it to be moral- 



256 

ly impossible for any being to act in opposition to 
his own convictions, wliile these convictions exist 
with him. If, therefore, he is without works, it is 
evidence that he is without faith. Faith is here no 
mysterious principle ; it is merely simple belief. 
Now can a person actually believe in the existence 
of God, of his government, and that certain punish- 
ment will be inflicted by him in some way for every 
transgression of his commands, and that he wdll be 
rewarded for an obedience to them, and w^hile under 
the influence of this belief, at the very same moment, 
proceed to transgress theni ? Impossible. He must 
cease to have this behef or faith for the time being. 
He might have had it hefore^ and he may again have 
it afterwards^ but he cannot have it at the time. 
He must have reasoned himself out of it by some 
course of fallacy or delusion suggested by his de- 
sire of yielding to some pressing temptation, and 
procuring some immediate gratification. The case 
is parallel to that of a person subjected to the gov- 
ernment of human laws. While he has di firm faith 
or conviction that these laws will certainly be exe- 
cuted, or that he will certainly be punished if he 
violates them, he will of course refrain from this 
violation, for no one would incur the certainty of 
punishment following a crime, which must always 
outweigh the immediate gratification of the act it- 
self, any more than he would jump from the top of 
a house with a firm conviction at the same time, that 



257 

he would be killed by so doing. If therefore he 
proceeds to a violation of the law, it must be be- 
cause he expects to escape detection, or in other 
words is wanting in faith that it will be executed. 
The same course of remark is applicable to the 
Divine government, I conceive, where works do not 
follow as the consequence of faith, that there is a 
cherished doubt or want of faith for the time being 
of its existence, or of the certainty^ that its penalties 
will follow a disobedience to its laws. 

It will therefore follow from this reasoning, that 
faith cannot be said in truth to exist without works, 
works not only being the evidence of it, but its ne- 
cessary consequence. 

Thus much may be said respecting faith without 
works. I will now consider works without faith. 
As the character of an action depends upon the dis- 
position or motives which lead to it, and as in those 
cases where the right disposition or motives are 
wanting, the moral worth of the action will be im- 
paired, it follows, that where the principle of obe- 
dience to the will of God, in regarding moral dis- 
tinctions or faith, is deficient, the action itself 
loses its peculiar moral character, and becomes com- 
paratively of little value. There are a great 
variety of motives from which the same action 
may proceed, and its value, whether regarded 
in reference to the person performing it, or in its 
consequences upon others, will depend upon the na- 
22^ 



258 

ture of the influence under which he acted. If he 
acted from the highest class of motives, as a sense 
of duty, and obedience to the will of God, the 
whole beneficial consequences of which the action 
is capable will flow from it. If he acted from in- 
ferior considerations, good may still proceed from it, 
but not so much. Thus an act of generosity, as 
endowing a religious, charitable, or hterary institu- 
tion, even if it proceed merely from a love of fame, 
or the esteem of mankind, wall be productive of 
beneficial consequences, on the whole perhaps, as 
these institutions are in themselves the source of 
much good to the world, and fame and esteem are 
in themselves desirable 5 and when properly pursued, 
in subordination to a higher principle, just objects of 
solicitude ; but still the same act, if performed under 
the influence of faith or from a sense of duty, w^ould 
be productive of all the good effects as in the for- 
mer case, besides having a far more beneficial ope- 
ration upon the chai^acter of the person performing 
it and of others. In this way then is seen the value 
of works, as depending upon faith, and how much 
their worth may here be diminished, and in other 
cases destroyed, for the want of it. So that it may 
in truth be said, that " as faith without works is 
dead, being alone," that is, not producing the effects 
it was particularly designed to produce, and in which 
rests its chief ualue, or in fact not being at all; so 
works without faith are comparatively dead, as be- 
ing of little moral worth. 



259 



HUMILITY. 



Humility may be considered the opposite of 
pride, as meekness is of revenge, and maybe defin- 
ed to be that temper of mind, which is produced 
by a just estimate of our own characters and con- 
dition in the world, the relations we sustain to the 
Deity, and to our fellow creatures. It discovers 
itself by our general demeanour in our intercourse 
with mankind; by our views of the character of 
God and his government, and by our conduct under 
his various dispensations. It is opposed to pride, 
as not cherishing any extravagant notions own 
moral and intellectual qualities, or of what are 
called the adventitious advantages of life which 
may appertain to us, such as birth, fortune, station, 
or friends ; as considering ourselves indebted to the 
kindness of Providence for all the blessings we 
possess, and not as having deserved them by our own 
personal merits. It is opposed to pride too, as dis- 
posing us to form favorable opinions of the charac- 
ters, conduct, and motives of our fellow beings, and 
totally to disregard the mere artificial distinctions of 
society in making this estimate. It regards essen- 
tial worth, as affording the only claim to public or 
private respect ; and while it will never descend to 
servility or flattery to gain the favor of the rich and 
powerful, it always gives to the poor and weak 
the respect which their virtues and their usefulness 



260 

may deserve. It is kind and courteous in manners 
and behaviour, without any extravagant and fulsome 
demonstrations of attachment. Its external conduct 
is the mirror of its feelings, not a mask put upon them 
to disguise and misrepresent them. It does not covet 
so much outward marks of honor from mankind, as 
their internal esteem and good will ; and it does not 
labor so much to obtain these, as it does to deserve 
them. It does not suffer itself to be provoked to 
resentful conduct, by sHght instances of neglect or 
contumely, conscious of not deserving them ; though 
it entertains a just regard for character, and feels a 
proper sense of injury. It is disposed to consider 
little marks of rudeness or vulgarity, as proceeding 
from passion, prejudice, ignorance, error, or a want 
of good manners, and that as a natural and necessa- 
ry consequence, they will, if let alone, punish them- 
selves, and work out their own remedy. It labors 
to show mankind the folly of indulging hostile feel- 
ings towards one another, not by returning evil for 
evil, but by making their conduct appear odious in 
their own sight, as contrasted with kindness, civility, 
and forgiveness ; and is disposed to overlook all in- 
stances of malevolence when it can be done consis- 
tently with the duty it owes to itself and the w^el- 
fare of society. 

This then being, as I conceive, the character of 
humility, and embracing its essential features, I shall 
now proceed to consider our duty to practise it, not 



261 

only from the intrinsic excellence of the virtue itself, 
but as a frame of mind, naturally produced by a 
view of the relation we sustain to the Deity himself, 
the perfection of his character and attributes, and 
the relation in which we stand to our fellow men. 

And first, as respects the relation we sustain to 
the Deity. We were brought into existence, and 
are upheld by his power ; and all our faculties, both 
of mind and body, are the fruits of his benevolence. 
Our nature as free, rational, and accountable beings, 
created for an endless state of existence, and capa- 
ble of progressive and ceaseless imnrovement in 
knowledge and virtue, came from his hands. All 
the objects in the material world calculated to min- 
ister to the gratification of our senses and appetites, 
all the relations of the social state, adapted to call 
into exercise our benevolent affections and afford 
them their appropriate satisfaction ; and all the 
subjects of knowledge in all the different departments 
of science and literature, that are the fund of such 
various and inexhaustible dehght, have been provi- 
ded by his kind and paternal care. The provision 
made for our sustenance and preservation is his work; 
and chiefly and lastly the relation we sustain to him 
as children to a parent, who are placed in this world 
to prepare for another, a higher and an eternal one 
to acquire those perfect characters which will fit us 
for perfect happiness ; this relation, and these hopes 
revealed both by reason and the sacred Scriptures 
are the gifts of his sovereign grace. 



262 

Now the reflection that all these blessings both in 
possession and prospect are the work of infinite be- 
nevolence exerted for our benefit by the dictates of 
its own nature, should fill us at the same time as 
well with humility as with gratitude. With grati- 
tude, that we are made the recipients of such rich 
mercies ; and with humility, because we are indebt- 
ed to him for their enjoyment and continuance. 
The same hand which bestowed them, can, if it 
should see fit, at any moment withdraw any or all 
of them. The little control then we in fact have 
over Qur own fortune and happiness, should, while it 
fills us with a humbling sense of our infirmity and 
dependence, make us cherish a becoming submis- 
sion to his sovereign will. 

The second consideration, which should teach us 
humility, is the limited nature of our faculties when 
compared with the perfection of the Divine charac- 
ter and attributes. What is the power of a mortal 
when exerted to its utmost extent, when compared 
with the power of that Being, who, by a mere act 
of his will, called the universe into existence, and 
sustains it with an unceasing energy ! who not only 
formed the countless multitude of worlds, which 
wander through the paths of space, but controls 
their revolutions with such wonderful skill that they 
are not suffered to deviate in the slightest degree 
from their orbits, or disturb in an iota, the harmony 
and regularity of the system ! who not only gave 



263 

birth to all the tribes of the vegetable world, in all 
their astonishing variety and beauty, which minister 
in so many ways to the comfort, sustenance, health, 
and gratification of man and beast, but is also con-* 
tinually employed in renovating and maturing them, 
as the appropriate season for this process shall ar- 
rive ! and all this done by a contrivance of such 
wonderful silence and secresy, as entirely to elude 
the penetration of the most sagacious intellect ! who 
not only called into being the countless multitude of 
animals, that people the earth, the air, and the ocean, 
and endued them with their pecuhar habits and in- 
stincts, but governs, preserves, and reproduces them 
by the innate and passive principles of their nature, 
makes each act w^ithin his allotted sphere, and con- 
tribute to the sustenance of one another and the 
human race ! and who not only produced man, his 
last and noblest work, and gave him the wonderful 
powers of his moral and intellectual nature, and 
placed him in a world, fitted for their developement 
and cultivation ! and by the dispensations of his 
providence is not only strengthening these powers, 
but overruhng even the perversion of them, to the 
production of beneficent results, beneficent in re- 
spect to the individual and the species to which he 
belongs ! Surely, when all the power, wisdom, and 
benevolence expended in these wonderful works are 
considered, and their own comparative impotence, 
shortsightedness, and selfishness, they should pros- 



264 

trate themselves in the dust with reverential awe and 
humility. 

Again, men should be taught humility by the sins 
they are constantly committing in thought, word, 
and deed, and the abuse they make of their nature 
and the blessings of Providence. Instead of keep- 
ing a strict watch over themselves and endeavour- 
ing to form virtuous habits, to control and regulate 
their passions and propensities, they are continually 
wasting their time in frivolous pursuits and suffering 
some one or more principles of their nature to over- 
leap the bounds assigned it by Providence, and 
usurp dominion over the rest. They frequently 
fail in their duty towards God, their fellow men, 
and themselves. They suffer a love of pleasure, 
wealth, power, and ease to stifle their social and be- 
nevolent feelings ; and the w^elfare of their neigh- 
bours and mankind is often sacrificed at the shrine 
of private aggrandisement. Passions and appetites, 
which were given them for purposes essential to 
their existence and welfare, are converted into the 
engines of licentiousness and discord, and made de- 
structive to their own comfort and that of society. 
A just and moderate desire for property, for its le- 
gitimate purpose, degenerates into avarice ; an hon- 
orable ambition to be useful to mankind, into a thirst 
after the vain distinctions of the world } and a laud- 
able wish for the esteem and respect of their fellow 
men into a servile acquiescence in all their false 



265 

notions and standard of conduct. Men lose sight, 
too, of the Maker and Ruler of all things, even in 
the enjoyment of the abundance of his blessings, 
and fail to render him that homage and gratitude, to 
which, as their sovereign and benefactor, he is just- 
ly entitled. In view then of their countless defi- 
ciencies in all their duties, they should be pene- 
trated with a deep sense of their unworthiness, and 
filled with profound humility. 

Another reason I shall assign for feeling and 
practising humility, is the relation which men sustain 
in this world towards one another. The state of 
things in which we live is so contrived, and for wise 
reasons, that the happiness of each one is made to 
depend upon the conduct of others, both as indi- 
viduals and as members of the community. Most 
of our wants of body and mind, in health and in 
sickness, in prosperity and in adversity, at home 
and abroad, are to be supplied by the agency or the 
kindness of our fellow beings. All those offices of 
affection and friendship, which are calculated so 
much to sweeten life and soothe suffering, are to be 
performed by persons filling the domestic or social 
relations which Providence has ordained ; and the 
last and most interesting duty of watching the soul 
in its escape from this tenement of clay, and cheer- 
ing its flight to a celestial world, devolves upon the 
man of God, who discharges the sacred functions 
of the pastoral relations. Men are at any moment 
23 



266 

liable, too. to those afHictive visitations of Provi- 
dence, which may snatch from them their property, 
their health, or their friends, and throw them upon 
the charity of their fellow beings. Their extreme 
helplessness, when thus suffering under the Divine 
dispensations, and their entire inability oftentimes to 
minister to the alleviation of the wants created by 
them, should make them feel a proper dependance 
upon their fellow men, who are, under Providence, 
to be the instruments of affording them relief and 
comfort. There is no individual, however low or 
obscure, but may, at some time or other perhaps, 
have it in his power to do us essential service, and 
possibly save our lives or our property from de- 
struction. These considerations should teach us 
our own weakness and insufficiency, incline us to 
rely upon the Divine arm, and cherish feelings of 
humility towards God and our fellow men. 

Again, this temper of humility should be culti- 
vated, because it carries with it the greatest peace 
and satisfaction to its possessor, and is the surest 
way of gaining the esteem and love of the best part 
of our race. The proud man not only punishes 
himself by indulging a passion which is productive in 
itself of uneasiness, but in failing to obtain the very 
object at which he aims, the homage and respect of 
others. The exhibition of pride is a virtual mark 
of contempt of him, towards whom it is shown, and 
an assumption of superiority over him. The effect 



267 

of it, therefore, usually is, to create a feeling of re- 
sentment in the latter, who commonly is not slow to 
make it manifest in his manners, if not in his lan- 
guage. Humility, on the contrary, while it does 
not seek or covet external marks of respect, always 
receives them, because while it is truly diffident of 
its own pretensions to it, it is always willing to allow 
every one else his full measure of it. 

Lastly, humility, as it does not value station or 
influence in hfe for any other purpose than as afford- 
ing opportunities of greater usefulness to man- 
kind, will readily embrace any occasion, which 
Providence shall offer for this purpose, be the sphere 
of duty ever so humble, and the sacrifice it calls 
for ever so great. It will devote itself unhesitatingly 
and unqualifiedly to the task it believes assigned it, 
" for its hopes are fixed, trusting in God." 



PRAYERS. 



JVo. 1. 
Almighty God, and most merciful Father, Cre- 
ator and Preserver of all things, accept our ac- 
knowledgments of gratitude for the protection thou 
hast afforded us during our past hfe^ that thou 
hast been with us, to guide and support us, and 
brought us, to the present time, in circumstances 
of so much mercy and comfort. To thee are we 
indebted for our existence, and all its accompanying 
blessings ; for health, friends, and the supply of our 
daily wants. To thee we owe our rational and mor- 
al nature, and all the happiness of which it is capa- 
ble. From thee we derive our hopes of immortal- 
ity and all the support and consolation they are calcu- 
lated to give us amidst the trials and difficulties of 
life. From thee we have received our rehgion, which 
is adapted to purify our hearts and enlighten our 
minds and promote our present and eternal happi- 
ness. Wilt thou, O Father, be with us through 
the journey of life ; guide and support us amidst all 
its perils and perplexities. May we see thy over- 
ruling hand in all its events, and endeavour as far as 
possible to promote thy purposes, and advance thy 
23^ 



270 

kingdom. May we be filled with religious faith as 
a living, active principle, intended to direct us in our 
course of duty ; and may no danger appal us when 
acting in obedience to thy will. May we put on 
the whole armor of God, and stand fast in the 
liberty wherewith thou hast made us free. May 
we resist sin with all its temptations, and strive to 
reclaim our fellow men from the bondage of error 
and prejudice. May we set before them the high- 
est motives to virtue, and give them the most perfect 
examples of its efficacy and influence. Wilt thou 
pour out thy spirit upon us and all mankind. May 
we have just conceptions of thy character and gov- 
ernment, and what thou requirest of us. May we 
see the ways of wisdom to be ways of pleasantness 
and all her paths to be peace. Be with us, we be- 
seech thee, in the study of thy word. May we 
properly employ our time in the acquisition of 
knowledge and the improvement of our moral na- 
ture. May our only aim be to satisfy ourselves 
what is the way of truth and duty, without regard 
to the names and parties into which the Christian 
world is divided. When we have satisfied ourselves 
of this by a calm and thorough examination, may we 
resolutely maintain it, and boldly avow it. May 
neither the fear of man nor a regard for temporal 
interests restrain us, knowing that though we may 
undergo present inconvenience and suffering, in 
the end we shall receive of thy blessings tenfold 



271 

more abundantly ; that thy favor is Hfe, and thy 
loving kindness is better than life. May we 
cultivate a spirit of friendship and kindness to- 
wards one another, and be inchned to do every good 
office which our respective wants may require. May 
we rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with 
those who weep. May we feel that thou hast made 
the happiness of thy creatures to depend upon each 
other, and that it is more blessed to give, than to re- 
ceive. Be with our friends wherever they may be ; 
may they be thy friends, and partake largely of thy 
bounty. May every evil passion cease from among 
men, and the whole world become a state of con- 
cord and happiness. May the reign of righteous- 
ness become universal, and as a consequence, the 
reign of peace and prosperity. May every kne€ 
be made to bow to thy authority and to confess thy 
sovereignty. May superstition and idolatry cease, 
and thou alone reign king of nations, as thou reign- 
est king of saints, with undisputed sway. Grant us 
every thing which thou shalt see to be best for us, 
and withhold whatever thou knowest will be injurious. 
These petitions we offer as thy children, ascribing 
to thee, the only God, glory for ever. Amen. 



272 

JVo. 2. 
O THOU great and glorious Being, who sittest at 
the head of the universe, Author, Preserver, and 
Governor of all things, we, thy dependent children, 
would at this time prostrate ourselves before thee, 
with unfeigned humility, to supplicate thy benedic- 
tion upon us. Thou, in the exercise of thy bound- 
less benevolence, hast created the world we inhabit, 
and all that it contains ; the sun and the moon are 
the work of thy hands, and all the operations of 
nature are carried on by thy unceasing energy, and 
ever watchful providence. Day unto day uttereth 
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge of 
thee. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God, 
and with thee there is no variableness nor shadow 
of turning ; thou art perfect in all thy attributes and 
just in all thy ways. In the beginning, thou didst 
create man, and endue him with the wonderful 
powers of body and mind w^hich he possesses ; thou 
madest him an immortal and accountable being, and 
placedst him in this world to prepare for a higher 
arid endless state of existence ; thou hast made his 
happiness, and the perfection of his nature to depend 
upon his own exertions, and hast supplied him in 
every period of the world with those aids and that 
hght which were best suited to his existing condition. 
For these great and manifold expressions of thy 
goodness, we would offer our most devout acknowl- 
edgments of gratitude. May we act up to the end 



273 

of our being, and make a proper use of all the tal- 
ents and opportunities thou hast granted us ; may 
we strive to be perfect as thou, our Father in Heav- 
en, art perfect. In all the dispensations of thy 
Providence may we discern thy ruling hand, and 
acquiesce in them as proceeding from a being of 
perfect wisdom and goodness. In prosperity, may 
we be led to acknowledge thy bounty as the source 
of all our blessings, and be disposed to impart lib- 
erally of them to our fellow men. May we not 
suffer ourselves to be lifted up with pride, nor our 
hearts to be hardened through the deceitfulness of 
riches. But may we consider ourselves the stew- 
ards of thy bounty, and accountable to thee for the 
fulfilment of the trust committed to us. In adver- 
sity, may we be patient and submissive, knowing 
that it proceeds from thy appointment, and that 
though for the present it may not be joyous but 
grievous, yet it is intended in the end to work out 
for us the peaceable fruits of righteousness, by puri- 
fying and exalting our characters, and strengthening 
the bonds of affinity between ourselves and our fel- 
low men. May we, O God, be filled with a spirit 
of love and good will towards our fellow men ; may 
we consider all mankind as the children of one 
common parent, possessed of a common nature, 
and heirs of a common inheritance ; may we en- 
deavor in every way to improve their condition and 
minister to their wants, and as far as it is in our 



274 

power, may we relieve suffering in every shape in 
which it may appear, and derive our highest satis- 
faction from doing good to others. But in an es- 
pecial manner may we labor to impart to them the 
truths of religion, and to impress them w^ith those 
doctrines and precepts which are fitted to guide, to 
support, and to comfort them through life. May we 
exhort them to place their trust in thee as their nev- 
er failing friend, and to lean upon thy almighty arm. 
Wilt thou be with us and the whole world of man- 
kind ; may thy kingdom come, and thy will be done, 
as in Heaven, so on earth. May sin and misery 
cease from among men, and the whole world be 
filled with thy glory. May knowledge and virtue 
be the stability of our times, and the fear of the 
Lord our wisdom. May wars and fightings no lon- 
ger continue to desolate and destroy mankind, but 
be succeeded by the reign of peace, harmony, and 
brotherly love. Wilt thou bless our country, our 
national and state governments, and all those in au- 
thority over us, who make thy law the rule of their 
conduct. Wilt thou smile upon our colleges, acad- 
emies, and all places of learning. We would sup- 
plicate thy benediction also upon all religious institu- 
tions devoted to thy cause. May thy word grow 
every where and flourish, and may there continually 
issue streams which shall make glad the city of our 
God. And to thy great and holy name would we 
ascribe everlasting praise. Amen. 



275 



JVo. 3. 
Almighty and every blessed God, King of kings, 
and Lord of lords, who art from everlasting to ev- 
erlasting the only wise God, whose presence fills 
immensity, and to whose power there are no bounds ; 
we thy children would at this time approach thy 
throne to acknowledge our dependence upon thee 
and supplicate thy benediction. We are the work- 
manship of thy hands and the living monuments of 
thy benevolence and wisdom. From thee we have 
received our existence, our rational and immortal 
nature, and all the bright prospects which thou hast 
revealed in thy word ; from thee we have received 
all our assistance for the cultivation and improve- 
ment of this nature and all the capacity for happi- 
ness of which we are conscious. We would with 
suitable humility adore the transcendent perfections 
of thy character, thy infinite wisdom, power, and 
goodness ; that thou didst originally conceive the 
wonderful plan of creation, providence, and grace, 
under which we live, and of which we make a part; 
a plan which has been in operation from the crea- 
tion of the world to the present time, and which 
we are assured will continue through the boundless 
ages of eternity. We would, O God, be deeply 
impressed with a sense of the height and depth of 
thy counsels, by which all the purposes of thy gov- 
ernment are accomplished ; and still we thy crea- 
tures continue in the enjoyment of a perfectly free, 



276 

rational, and accountable nature. We would discern 
and acknowledge thy overruling hand in all the 
events of the world, in all our thoughts, words, and 
actions, and in all the operations of the material 
and the moral universe. Nations and individuals 
are but instruments in thy hands for the accom- 
plishment of thy moral purposes, and all their de- 
signs and conduct are overruled by thee to sub- 
serve thy great ends, and their own highest happi- 
ness. Sickness and health, prosperity and ad- 
versity proceed directly from thee, and are design- 
ed to improve and perfect our characters, and 
make us in the highest degree useful to our fellow 
creatures. The phenomena of nature are produced 
by thy immediate agency, and make a part of thy 
providential dispensations. We would, O God, en- 
deavour to look beyond that train of second causes, 
through w^hose operation thou hast seen fit to perform 
thy great and wonderful works, and adore thee as 
the great First Cause, and Author of all things. May 
we see thy hand in the whirlwind and in the thun- 
der, in the sunshine and in the dew, in the revolu- 
tion of a world and in the fall of a pebble. All the 
hairs of our head, we are assured, are numbered 
by thee, and not a sparrow falls to the ground with- 
out thy notice. 

Heavenly Father, may we in all our conduct en- 
deavour to conform to thy law, whether written in 
our hearts, revealed in thy sacred Scriptures, or dis- 



277 

coverable in the cause of thy providence. May 
we know no other rule of duty but an obedience to 
thy commands, and may this obedience be unhesita- 
ting and unquahfied, satisfied that all thy counsels 
are wise, and all thy ways just. May we not stop 
to inquire in what estimation our conduct will be 
held by our fellow men, but whether it be such as 
thou wilt approve and bless. May we hold world- 
ly honor low in comparison with that honor which 
Cometh from above. Wilt thou, O God, enable us 
to cherish feelings of pure benevolence, towards 
the whole world of mankind. May we, in all our 
intercourse with our fellow beings, imitate thy con- 
duct to thy creatures. As thou sendest thy rain 
upon the evil and upon the good, upon the thank- 
ful and the unthankful, may we be disposed to re- 
turn good for evil and blessing for injuries, wherever 
an obedience to thy will and our duty will allow 
us. Wilt thou, O God, be with and bless every 
individual now in thy presence. Grant us all needed 
assistance, and watch over and guide us in our path 
of life. Do with us, as in thy wisdom shall seem 
to thee best, and may we be led to acquiesce in all 
the ways of thy government. May pure religion 
and undefiled prevail with us, and throughout the 
world, and thy kingdom come, and thy will be done, 
on earth as itis in heaven, for thine is the kingdom, 
the power, and the glory for ever. Amen. 
24 



278 

JVo. 4. 
Almighty and most merciful God, who art the 
fountam of wisdom, power, and goodness, from whom 
we and all finite beings have proceeded, wilt thou 
at this time be pleased graciously to hsten to our 
supphcations, and grant such of them as shall be 
agreeable to thy holy will and our own real welfare. 
We would, with a proper sense of humility and de- 
pendence, come before thee at this time to ask thy 
benediction, and to implore a continuance of thy 
merciful providence over us. We would, O God 
be deeply impressed with a sense of the perfection 
of thy character and government, and devoutly 
adore thee in all thy manifestations of them, both to- 
wards us and the rest of thy creation. We would 
regard thee as our Governor, Father, and Friend, and 
cherish towards thee those feelings of submission 
piety, and confidence, which are due from us, thy 
subjects and children. We would adore thee in all 
thy works of creation, providence, and grace. The 
universe, with all its grandeur, harmony, and beauty, 
is the work of thy hands, and sustained and govern- 
ed by the application of thine immediate power and 
wisdom. The earth, which we inhabit, was formed 
by thee and all the vicissitudes of summer and win- 
ter, seed time and harvest, day and night, contribut- 
ing so much to our comfort and happiness, were or- 
dained and produced by thy wonderful skill and 
goodness. All the varieties of climate which exist 



279 

in the world, which by the div^ersity of their pro- 
ductions increase the materials of human enjoy- 
ment in so great a degree, are caused by thy be- 
nevolent contrivance. The three great kingdoms into 
which it is divided, with all their countless divisions 
and subdivisions, each maintaining its proper re- 
lations, all bearing the impress of their divine origin, 
and created for the happiness of man, and other 
animals, claim thee for their Author and Preserver. 
In the astonishing operations of thy providence, 
too, we would with pious gratitude recognise thine 
attributes, both in the moral and material world. 
Thou, O God, art continually employed in overrul- 
ing the conduct of thy creatures for the promotion 
of their own highest happiness and the improvement 
of their moral and intellectual nature. Thou ar^ 
constantly affording them all the necessary means 
and facilities for the perfection of their char- 
acters, that they may grow more and more into a 
resemblance to thyself, and be, as they were de- 
signed to be, thy children, not merely in name, but 
in deed and in truth. All thy dispensations have this 
for their end, and are such as are best adapted to ac- 
complish their purpose. The powers and phenome- 
na of the material world, too, are all subject to thy 
directing hand, and used for the fulfilment of thy 
great designs. Accident and chance exist but in 
name, since thy invisible but controlling power puts 
in operation all the machinery by which their ef- 



280 

fects are produced, and it all acts in obedience to 
thy will and power. But we would in an especial 
manner offer thee the tribute of gratitude and praise, 
for that system of grace by which thou hast revealed 
to us our nature and destination as rational and im- 
mortal beings, intended for an endless state of exis- 
tence ; that we are placed in this world to prepare 
for it, and are constituted in this way, the disposers 
of our own lot through eternity. O God, may we and 
all mankind feel our deep responsibility to thee for 
all these invaluable gifts of thy mercy ; may we be 
disposed to make a proper use of them, and culti- 
vate that spirit and temper, and practise those vir- 
tues, which constitute the character thou dost ap- 
prove and wilt bless. May we be filled with love 
and good will to our fellow men, and make it our 
highest enjoyment to promote their improvement and 
welfare. May we consider all mankind as our 
brethren, members of one great family, whose head 
and father is God. Wilt thou, O God, confer upon 
us air needed blessings, both of a spiritual and tem- 
poral kind. To thy paternal providence we would 
commit ourselves and all which belongs to us. 
And to thee, the only wise and true God, we would 
ascribe ceaseless praises. Amen. 



281 

JVo. 5. 
O THOU great and self-existent Being, who art 
from everlasting to everlasting, whose power knows 
no bounds, and whose presence fills all space ; 
whose wisdom is unsearchable, and whose good- 
ness is without variableness or shadow of turning . 
we, thy children, would now come before thee to ac- 
knowledge thy paternal authority, and ask thy pa- 
ternal blessing. Under the protection of thy provi- 
dence, we have been preserved to the present time, 
and made so much progress on the journey of 
life. We, O God, would see thy hand in ail the 
events which have befallen us, and in all the vicis- 
situdes through which we have passed ; and in a 
spirit of humble faith and submission would ac- 
knowledge that the same benevolent care has at- 
tended us in them all. Clouds and darkness may 
at times have veiled thy face from us, and thy ways 
have appeared mysterious, and past finding out ; but 
we would rejoice that in their issue, justice and judg- 
ment will always appear to be the foundation of thy 
throne, and that the best ends are pursued by thee with 
the wisest means. Heavenly Father, we would ex- 
press our gratitude to thee, that our Hves and desti- 
ny are in the hands of a Being, who hast nothing in 
view in any of thy dispensations but our own high- 
est welfare ; and who, in all the chastisements and 
afflictions to which we are subjected art endeavor- 
ing to draw us to thyself, and make us capable of the 
24^ 



282 

highest possible degree of happiness. May we, O 
God, make a suitable use of all thy allotments, that 
they may have their perfect work, and bring forth 
in us the peaceable fruits of righteousness. May our 
characters be continually improving in all the mor- 
al and religious graces, and may we make it our aim 
and constant endeavor to become perfect, as thou, 
our Father in Heaven, art perfect. May no standard, 
short of thine own character, so far as it is within 
our sphere to imitate, satisfy our desires, but in all 
the duties of hfe and all the relations we may 
sustain towards our fellow men, may we endeavor 
to combine those principles of conduct, of which 
thy government and providence are a perfect mir- 
ror. May we unite the most inflexible justice 
with the most compassionate benevolence, and may 
the exercise of whatever power may be intrusted 
to us, be controlled by the worthiest motives, and 
directed to the wisest ends. As thou, in the ad- 
ministration of thy government, dost not wilhngly 
afflict or grieve the children of men, so may we 
never be disposed to cause useless pain to one 
of our fellow beings, or occasion them any suffering 
which is not necessary for their own improvement 
and welfare. May we fearlessly, and at the same 
time in the true spirit of benevolence to all man- 
kind, discharge our duty towards them. May we 
not hesitate to obey thy commands in whatever 
way thou mayest signify them to us, nor ever shun 



283 

to declare thy whole council and will. O God, we 
would supplicate thy benediction upon the whole 
family of man, in whatever region, and in whatever 
circumstances they may be placed. Wilt thou 
adapt thy dispensations to their several conditions 
and necessities. May they all recognise in thee 
their Father and Friend, and may their great concern 
be, to learn and do thy will. May thy rehgion 
spread and prevail throughout the world, and the 
blessed time soon come, when all shall know thee, 
from the rising to the setting sun. Wilt thou en- 
lighten with thy divine wisdom our own, and all the 
other governments of the earth. May it be their 
chief desire to improve the religious, moral, and in- 
tellectual condition of the people over whom they 
exercise authority, to spread thy word and to do thy 
will. May they consider themselves but as instru- 
ments in thy hands, to effect these important pur- 
poses, and may they be faithful to the trust com- 
mitted to them. Wilt thou bless all institutions of 
a religious, benevolent, literary, or useful nature, 
wherever situated, and may they contribute in a high 
degree to advance the welfare of mankind. And 
to thee would we render ceaseless homage. Amen. 



284 

JVo. 6. 
Eternal and everlasting God, whose throne is 
the universe, who doest thy pleasure in the armies 
of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, 
whose power no created being can resist, and 
whose inspection no art can elude, we would at this 
time stand before thee, as children in the presence 
of a Father, to lay our wants and our cares before 
thee, and ask thy paternal assistance. Thou hast 
assured us that thou art more ready to hear the 
petitions of thy children, than they are to make 
them, and that from a truly sincere and devout 
* supplicant, thou wilt not turn away thy face. O 
God, we feel, and would acknowledge, that our 
life and destiny through eternity, are in thy hands ; 
but that thou, in thy infinite benevolence, hast made 
our condition to depend upon the characters we 
form, and the conduct we pursue. We w^ould, O 
Father, endeavor in every thing to be conformed 
to thy will, and to make thy word the rule of our 
hfe. Fill us with a firm confidence in the perfec- 
tions of thy character, and the rectitude of thy pur- 
poses ; and though we, by the necessary imperfec- 
tion of our natures or our own voluntary ignorance 
and blindness, are not always able to discern the 
end from the beginning, and to see the reason at 
first of all thy ways, yet we would, in the spirit of 
faith and humility, confidently rely upon thy per- 
fect wisdom, power, and goodness ; that however 



285 

mysterious thy dispensations may seem to us, they 
are such as are best fitted to accomplish thy pur- 
poses, and the highest good of thy creatures. O 
God, wilt thou assist us, thy children, to dispel from 
our minds every shade of doubt and distrust, re- 
specting thee and thy providence ; may we see thy 
hand in every event of our Hves, and every vicissi- 
tude of the ivorld. May we feel that entire trust 
in thee, which will lead us to devote our whole time, 
talents, and opportunities unreservedly to thy ser- 
vice. May none of the vain and trifling distinctions 
of this world, its pleasures, its pomp, or its allure- 
ments, have the least influence upon our minds, 
when put in competition with the allegiance which' 
we owe thee, and the duty enjoined upon us, by thy 
word. May we feel that we have enlisted in a ser- 
vice, where an implicit obedience will be required, 
and where a failure to render it will be followed 
with thy severe judgments ; that thy hand will be 
stretched out for our protection and defence, while 
we act in conformity to thy requirements, and a 
spirit of wisdom will be given us, which not all 
the united powers of sin and darkness will be able 
either to gainsay or resist. Thou, O God, wilt 
afford us strength and confidence, in the day of 
peril and difliculty, and thy Holy Spirit will descend 
upon us, for our comfort and consolation. We 
shall go forth conquering and to conquer, and every 
knee will be made to bow, and every tongue to con- 



286 

fess that thou alone art the only true God, and be- 
sides thee, there is none other. Almighty God, 
may sin, in every shape, cease in the earth, wheth- 
er in thought, word, or action. May a confidence 
that thy presence pervades every thing, and that 
nothing escapes thy all-seeing eye, take entire pos- 
session of our minds, and influence all our conduct ; 
and that even if we take to ourselves the wings of the 
morning, and descend to the uttermost parts of the 
earth, there will thy hand find us, and thy right 
hand take hold of us. That thou assuredly wilt 
punish a transgression of thy law in whatever way 
committed, and though in the scope of thy infinitely 
wise councils, thou dost not see fit always immedi- 
ately to visit the transgressor with thy righteous dis- 
pleasure, that, sooner or later, he will receive his 
just sentence and be consigned to that state of wo, 
where there is " weeping and wailing and gnashing 
of teeth." O God, wilt thou grant us and all man- 
kind every needed blessing. We would not ask for 
any temporal favors, which would be inconsistent 
with our truest happiness, but we would earnestly 
beseech thee to grant us all spiritual assistance, and 
especially a firm faith in thy government, and a 
clear discernment of thy providence, knowing that 
if we ask it in faith, we shall receive it. And to 
thee be ascribed everlasting praises. Araen, 



287 

JYo. 7. 
Almighty and everlasting God, who sittest upon 
the throne of the universe, by whom all things were 
created and are sustained in being, who art of 
matchless power, wisdom, and goodness ; we would 
at this time draw near to thee in an especial manner, 
and address our prayers to thee as our Father and 
our Friend. We would devoutly acknowledge thee 
as the source of our existence, and all the blessings 
of which it is designed to be productive, both in this 
world and through the boundless ages of eternity. 
Thou didst in the beginning create man after thy own 
image, a rational, moral, and immortal being, and 
Dlacedst him in this world, as a state fitted for the 
developement and perfection of his nature ; thou de- 
signedstby the whole course of thy providence towards 
him to rear him up in such a way, that he should ac- 
complish this great end of his being, by becoming 
perfect in virtue and happiness. But by his own per- 
versity he acted in opposition to thy will, and his 
own highest interest, made himself the slave of sin 
and brought upon himself all those evils which, by 
the constitution of his nature, are the necessary con- 
sequence of depraved habits and passions. Retain- 
ing no longer the unsullied image of thee, his Ma- 
ker, it became necessary in the administration of thy 
government, that thou shouldest subject him to chas- 
tisement and suffering, that he should not sink deep- 
er in degradation and vice, but if possible be re- 



288 

claimed to his original purity and uprightness. Thou 
didst therefore decree that he and his posterity, whom 
thou foresavvest would be contaminated by the in- 
fluence of his evil example, should eat their bread 
by the sweat of their brow, and be exposed to tem- 
poral death, and all the physical evils of the world, 
until this moral renovation should be accomplished. 
Thou hast, O God, we would, in the spirit of sin- 
cere piety, beheve, been exerting thy wisdom from 
the earliest time to the present moment, to eftect this 
benevolent result, consistently with the moral nature 
which thou hast given thy children. This we confi- 
dently trust is the design of all the varied discipline 
of thy Providence, and all the vicissitudes which are 
appointed to us in life. And, O God, when this great 
work shall be accomplished ; when mankind shall 
again be made to resemble thee in the moral perfec- 
tions of thy character, we are led to believe this 
world will again become a scene of unmingled hap- 
piness and joy, and sorrow and suffering will flee 
away for ever. We would. Heavenly Father, by a 
conformity to thy law, and by our earnest endeavors 
to improve the characters of our fellow men, in a 
proper spirit of humility and obedience, labor to 
second the benevolent designs of thy government, 
and hasten that glorious time, when all shall know 
thee, throughout thy boundless dominions ; when 
thy authority shall be universally acknowledged 
and thy will universally obeyed ; when the only strife 



289 

shall be who shall love thee most and serve thee 
best ; and the reign of righteousness shall be seen 
to be joy and peace and happiness. For this pur- 
pose, O God, may we endeavor to enlighten the 
minds of our fellow men as to their nature and des- 
tination, and set before them the beauty of virtue 
and the deformity of vice. May we strive to allure 
them to the paths of wisdom and rectitude, by clearly 
exhibiting to them both by example and precept 
the happy consequences which flow from these 
sources ; and where these are ineffectual, to hold up 
the terrors of thy judgments upon the guilty and 
the impenitent. May we endeavor to be all things 
to all men, so far as harmless prejudices and unim- 
portant ceremonies are concerned, that we may be 
enabled to win their souls to the important and sub- 
stantial truths and duties of thy revealed will. May 
we exhibit that temper and disposition which be- 
come thy children, and manifest in our lives and 
conversation, every religious grace and virtue. May 
a spirit of charity and meekness pervade our whole 
character and intercourse, and may we in every 
thing act towards others as we would have them act 
towards us. And to thy great name be glory for 
ever. Amen. 



25 



290 

JYo. 8. 
Heavenly Father, we would again assemble 
around thy paternal altar to recognise the various 
relations in which we stand to thee as our Creator, 
Governor, and Judge ; and to renew our expressions 
of homage, gratitude, and reverence, for the various 
manifestations of thy love towards us. We would, 
O God, particularly at this time, discern thy be- 
nevolent hand in the season of the year, which 
has recently burst upon us in all its beauty and glad- 
ness. The ground is again robed in living verdure ; 
'' the flowers appear on the earth ; the time 
of the singing of birds has come," and all na- 
ture, from every hill and valley, is pouring forth 
her choral hymn of praise to thee, her great Author 
and Restorer. The vegetable kingdom has once 
more felt the quickening influence of thy power, 
and all its wonderful operations are now proceeding 
with their accustomed regularity and activity beneath 
thy plastic hand. The earth is again teeming with 
life, and exerting her energy in the reproduction 
of those various tribes of plants, which thy wisdom 
did contrive. The sun is again pouring down 
upon us his benign rays, cheering all nature with 
their genial warmth, and infusing health and vig- 
or into all thy animate creation. The soft shower 
and the tender dew are gently distilled upon the 
parched and thirsty earth, and fit emblems of thy 
love and grace, refresh and revive its drooping in- 



291 

habitants. In all this mechanism and variety of 
the material as well as thy moral universe, we 
would discern thy wisdom, power, and goodness; we 
would recognise thee as the contriver of all its parts 
and operations, and thy energy as the sustaining 
principle, by which, through the medium of second 
causes, it is preserved in life and activity. In the 
appearance of the vegetable world at this time, we 
would call to mind the face of nature in the infan- 
cy of our race, when man was in a state of inno- 
cence and virtue, and the object of thy complacen- 
cy. We are instructed in thy word that the earth 
was at that time a garden, in which every thing 
that sprung up, was calculated to delight his sen- 
ses, and fill him with love to thee, his great Bene- 
factor ; that the atmosphere breathed balm and 
odour, and nature teemed with whatever was necessa- 
ry to diversify the sources of his sensitive enjoyment. 
Nothing noxious or disagreeable was permitted to 
disturb his happiness or give him a sensation of 
uneasiness; but throughout the material, as the mor- 
al world, reigned harmony, order, and repose. But, 
O God, when man became disobedient to thy will, 
and suffered himself to be held in subjection by his 
depraved passions and habits ; when he dispossesed 
himself of that purity of moral taste, which would 
alone fit him to enjoy thee in the beauty and sub- 
limity of thy works ; thou wast pleased to change 
the face of nature ; to suffer noxious weeds to 



292 

grow up, ferocious and venomous animals to in- 
fest his path, and whirlwinds and volcanoes to deso- 
late his dwellings. Moral evil having entered the 
world, physical evil became necessary under thy 
direction, .to correct and expel it. But, O Heaven- 
ly Father, we would humbly trust in thy benevo- 
lence, that as fast as mankind become restored to 
the image of thee, their Maker, and again resemble 
thee in thy moral attributes, a corresponding change 
will also be perceived in thy material works, and 
the earth again return to its primitive loveliness and 
quiet. That all physical disorders and disturbances 
will cease, and man be restored once more to his 
original Paradise. We, O God, would humbly de- 
vote our lives and talents to this great work, and un- 
der thy Providence, labor to produce this great 
moral regeneration. And as thy children, we would 
ascribe to thee, our Father in Heaven, the king- 
dom, power, and glory for ever. Amen. 



THE END. 



01 

991 



rT^'^^TT 






■TT' 



.cJ''C xV -^^ 






^ .^r 






-*?-'^ 



^ -*"■-<. '"'^V 

>^,% ^>^ ^-^ 









^ 9-. 



rO^ 



^ ^ /^>. 



0^ ^.^^^y^^% "^, 







A^' -* cF^^S^t^^. ^ 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
\^ Treatment Date: April 2005 

J PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



"^ 






AV X 



^r 



^' «v .V?-^^. '. <\ 



'0 



\ 






1^- 



OO 






.-N^' 



^'^' 






-^ .^^' 






^>l% ■ 



■is 



N^ 



.0 a 



o^ ,0' 









o^ ^/ 






.'.^ .^.A^^V'i 









v\^" 



\%. ''^^'■<^' 






v\Vr 



"^.^ V* 



o 0" 



,/,-- 
















/-^'^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 085 052 4 



